It's the game favoured in villages all over Samoa... kirikiti ... the islands' own version of the sport of cricket.

But Samoa's biggest annual kirikiti tournament could well be a thing of the past with a push to replace it with a modern, English version of the game.

Tania Nugent: In the sport of kirikiti, Samoa's annual Teuila Festival Tournament is the most prestigious competition.

Piu Sunefalogo , kirikiti player: Here, you're playing the best teams in the country and the best players.

Tania Nugent: This colourful game is the influence of English missionaries, who came to Samoa in the early 1800's. As well as Christianity, they introduced cricket. The locals adapted the rules, the equipment and the name to create kirikiti.

Piu Sunefalogo: Teams are usually based around villages, like you're representing a village.

Tania Nugent: Like cricket, teams take turns batting and fielding. But the kirikiti bat is much bigger. They're not only cumbersome, they're also three-sided.

Misa Telefoni, Deputy Prime Minister: You need to have a good eye because yYou're not allowed to play a straight bat, you're not allowed to block the ball, you have to swing at everything.

Tania Nugent: Kirikiti also has a different scoring system from cricket.

Piu Sunefalogo: If you hit it over the ring 2 points if you hit it along the ground 1 point.

Misa Telefoni: You don't wear any pads, the ball is a little bit more bouncy and you bowl from both sides so it's very quick.

Piu Sunefalogo: One way you can get out here is a thing called at pa'tas where, if you hit the ball one bounce into the pitch itself and it's caught on the full that's counted as a catch. Everything's fair game - off trees, off rooftops, the ball hits it on the fall, comes off. If it gets caught that's counted as a catch as well.

Tania Nugent: The Teuila Tournament has been scaled down. The government is encouraging the conventional form of the game because it offers players more opportunity to play at international level.

Misa Telefoni: I think that there's a great future for our people in English cricket.

Tania Nugent: But kirkiti is growing in popularity in New Zealand, thanks to the large Samoan community living there. There's now a national competition and a push to standardise the rules. But for many Samoans, standardising the game is just not - kirikiti.

Piu Sunefalogo: One pitch we played on has a road running through the middle and fielders have to field on the other side. So you're trying to bowl and run and there's a bus coming at you. But that's just how it's played here.

The future of the game? Hopefully it continues to thrive. It's definitely loved by everyone here.