We have used fibre spectroscopy to establish cluster membership and examine pre-main-sequence (PMS) lithium depletion for low-mass stars (spectral types F to M) in the sparse young (~30Myr) cluster IC 4665. We present a filtered candidate list of 40 stars that should contain 75 per cent of single cluster members with 11.5<V<18 in the central square degree of the cluster. Whilst F- and G-type stars in IC 4665 have depleted little or no lithium, the K- and early M-type stars have depleted more Li than expected when compared with similar stars in other clusters of known age. An empirical age estimate based on Li depletion among the late-type stars of IC 4665 would suggest that it is older than 100Myr.