Curiel J: Cricket in place of Baseball in Bay Area

It's Cricket Baseball's kindred sport has a loyal following in the Bay Area

By Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Cricket players are a kind lot. With baseball season officially over, they could use this opportunity to gloat, to shout to the world that their sport -- inherently linked to baseball in spirit and form -- is free of egomania and salary problems, that cricket is still being played with wild abandon (well, maybe not wild -- maybe joyous is more like it) around the Bay Area every weekend.

But gloat not, these cricket players. Not only are they gentlemanly, they're a little on the staid side. Passive, even -- which sort of reflects their sport.

"The spotlight is something we'd like to take advantage of," says Mike Miller, who runs the Marin Cricket Club. "As usual, though, cricket is a little slow to do things."

Which is why this most English of games may never catch on in the United States -- certainly not the way it has in former British colonies. In countries like India and Pakistan and Sri Lanka, young boys of 5 and 6 play cricket all day in parks and streets and tiny alleyways. The sport is televised as often as possible, and newspaper accounts of important international matches are biblical (''India Falls to Pakistan!!'') in tone and reverence.

In the United States, cricket is nothing -- which as any knowledgeable cricketer will tell you is painfully ironic. It turns out that the first international cricket match ever played was between Canada and (you guessed it) the United States. The year: 1844. In fact, the United States was once a beacon of cricketness. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Americans were cricket crazy. Reportedly, cricket was this country's first organized sport. A fun historical fact: During the Constitutional Convention, when Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues were debating whether America should have a presidency, someone yelled, ''Well, even cricket clubs have presidents!''

Cricketers don't claim credit for establishing the U.S. presidency, but they could -- probably yet another example of their selflessness. They're perfectly content, it seems, to play cricket and leave the showboating and grandstanding to others.

Deion Sanders? John McEnroe? Won't find players like that in cricket.

To play this sport, certainly to watch it, one needs the patience of a poet.

"Some people say that cricket is like walking chess," says Jim Cattlin, customer-relations manager for Qantas Airways in San Francisco, and a prominent member of the Australian Consulate's cricket squad.

FIVE-DAY MATCHES

Although one-day cricket matches have become increasingly common, international matches often last five days (the players get to go home for dinner and to sleep). Bay Area cricketers usually play one-day matches that go from late morning to early evening.

"I don't think cricket will catch on like baseball here," says T.R. Ramesh, who learned the game while growing up in India, and who plays in San Jose, where he works as a design engineer. ''The length of the game is (problematic). I don't think people have the patience to sit through a game. . probably one inning in cricket!''

To break up the monotony, cricket features regular tea breaks. Yes -- tea breaks. This is an English game, after all.

"It's funny that people find this amusing," says Richard Williams, an Australian who also works for Qantas Airways. "You bring sandwiches, scones, stuff like that. Then you have tea on the boil."

DIFFERENCES ABOUND

There are other fundamental differences between cricket and baseball -- as was made clear during a Saturday match between the British Consulate and the Australian Consulate at Piper Park in Larkspur (the place to play cricket -- part of it is reserved just for cricket, and the views of the Marin hills are priceless).

For example:

* Gloves: There aren't any in cricket. Players have to rough it when they catch a ball that's well hit. And a cricket ball can go as fast as 100 miles per hour. Ouch. The only person allowed to wear a glove is the catcher (or ''wicket keeper'' as he is known). ''There are a lot of injuries (in cricket),'' says Ramesh. ''Broken fingers, dislocations.'' Yet cricket players would never wear gloves. It's a machismo thing. ''Oh, no,'' says Allen Weedy, who plays for the Golden Gate Cricket Club. ''It wouldn't be cricket anymore. Whenever people talk about baseball, we say, 'we don't need gloves to field.' ''

* Terminology: Lots of almost surreal names and terms in cricket, like bowler (what cricketers calls their pitchers) and wicket (the trio of sticks behind the batter -- a sort of home plate) and over (the number of pitches thrown at a batter -- usually six). The most absurd: Silly Mid On. It's the name of the fielder closest to the batsman. Weedy thinks the name alludes to the fact that the fielder ''has to be crazy and silly'' to play so close to the batter.

* The Ball: Cricket balls are red and hard, about the size and weight of a baseball. The biggest difference: In cricket, only one ball is used during a game, which means that as the game progresses the ball loses some of its elasticity. Bowlers say that old balls don't move as fast, and are thus easier to hit. Spit balls, by the way, are illegal in cricket, just as they are in baseball. But just like in baseball, bowlers will resort to it. Sand paper, too. ''S-- happens,'' jokes Cattlin.

* Pitching Strategy: The goal is to get the batter out, of course. The most skillful way is to hit the wicket with the ball, knocking down the bales (small pieces of wood perched atop the wickets). Not easy. During the Australia-vs.- Britain game at Piper Park, one bowler did that by tossing a blooper pitch high in the air that the batter, sort of Casey-and-the-batlike, flailed at and missed.

SPIN IS THE THING

Blooper pitches are rare, though. In cricket, the spin's the thing. Cricket bowlers use different grips and arm/wrist movements that produce weird, almost centrifugal spins. Bowlers run up to the pitching line long-jump-like to get momentum before tossing the ball. And they fire the ball to the ground near the batter so that it spins viciously past or toward him. (In cricket, it's OK to use the ground on a pitch. In fact it's more common than not. It's also OK to hit the batter. Seriously. That's why batsmen wear padding. And, says Ramesh laughing, ''the batsman never will charge the bowler.'')

Here's the rub: it's hard to get a batter out, because batters get to decide whether to run on a hit ball. It's called batter's choice. During an over, a batter can, say, hit four ground balls directly to fielders before deciding to run on a well-hit ball that gets past everyone.

That's why during a five-day international test match, some batters will bat all day. During oneday matches, it's not uncommon for some batters to bat two hours.

* Runs: They score lots of them in cricket. Lots. A half-hour into the Britain-vs.-Austrailia match at Piper, Australia (clearly the better team) scored 60 runs. You score a run every time a batter runs successfully to the opposite batting mark. A cricket home run counts as six. A ball hit past the boundary line scores four. And get this: in cricket, batters can hit the ball in any direction. Behind them is perfectly fine. A hit that looks like a foul tip is often the cricket equivalent of a grand slam.

* Uniforms: Pearl-white uniforms are all but required wear. In casual games, players can wear shorts, but for the most part it's white shirt and white pants. (Some professional international matches now feature multicolored uniforms -- even corporate logos on uniforms -- but all-white is still preferred.) Jean Wong, president of the Southern California Cricket Association, relates this story about Erroll Flynn, who was a rabid cricket player in the days when Hollywood was run by actors who loved cricket: ''He once appeared for a match in some type of Hollywood get-up, and Sir Aubrey Smith (the team captain) promptly sent him home, saying, 'You can't play in this game.' ''

SEASONS COINCIDE

The cricket season, by the way, is the same as baseball. April through October. Sometimes the sports intersect. A few years ago, a cricket exhibition was played before a Giants game at Candlestick Park, to celebrate Aussie-American day. Before that, Pakistan -- which has been world champion a number of years -- played an exhibition at the Los Angeles Coliseum that drew about 10,000 fans.

Weedy and others think cricket could fill a vacuum. ''I'm sure if Americans got to see the best cricketers play at the highest level, they'd be excited,'' says Weedy. ''And I like baseball, but I definitely find cricket more exciting . baseball down.''

Cricket has mushroomed in popularity in the Bay Area, perhaps because there are many more expatriates from other countries who now live here. ''I've been here 25 years,'' says Weedy. ''When I got here, there were eight teams and one division (in the Northern California Cricket Association). Now there are 18 teams and two divisions.''

There is also a Pub League for players who don't quite have the skill -- or the desire -- to play competitively.

Still, because cricket is played in tucked-away spots like Piper Park, the sport is an undiscovered gem. There are only about 12 cricket fields in the Bay Area, but they'll be awash in players as the Northern California Cricket Association playoffs begin in two weeks. Also, Bay Area cricket clubs will next month celebrate the 150th anniversary of the U.S.- vs.-Canada match.

For at least a little while in the United States, cricket will be king again.

WHERE TO WATCH CRICKET

* The three best venues to watch cricket are Piper Park in Larkspur, home ground for the Marin Cricket Club (games Saturday and Sunday); Lamoine Park in El Sobrante, home ground for the Golden Gate Cricket Club (games Sunday); and Williamson Adult Educational Center Park in Santa Clara, home of the Santa Clara Cricket Club (games Saturday and Sunday)

* The Northern California Cricket Association playoffs begin Sunday, September 25, and last four weeks.

* The 150th anniversary of the first international cricket match, between the United States and Canada, will be celebrated in the Bay Area either October 8 or 9 at one of the three venues above, with a match between British Columbia and a representative team from the NCCA.

* For more information on cricket, contact Sanjay Santhanam, president of the Northern California Cricket Association, at 510-754-4543.

Thanks :: The San Francisco Chronicle