Things People Do : STICKING TO WICKETS: Club Gets Cricket Going Locally

UC San Diego’s Warren Field is not England’s Marylebone Cricket Club, the proper cradle for a sport that flourishes in England as well as Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, India and the West Indies.

But it is a beginning for this area.

A small but steadfast group gathers twice a week on a field that is a far cry from the overseas hotbeds. But the game is unmistakably cricket.

The founder of this unique San Diego fraternity, the UCSD Cricket Club, is Thanabal “Bala” Balakmaran of Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

Balakmaran spent the first 2 of his 5 years in the United States in Bakersfield, another cricket wasteland, and decided to start a cricket club in San Diego when he moved here in the fall of 1985.

It hasn’t been easy. He tried when he first got here, “but it was like a joke,” he said. He would “bat around” with people who saw him play, and slowly word got out that he was serious about starting a club.

“Then,” he said, “I really pushed it.”

As president of UCSD’s International Club last year, Balakmaran met foreign students and learned the intricacies of running a club. The cricket club now is run by an eight-member committee that decides game strategies and who will play which position and when.

“Last fall, when we started, we had 12 to 15 people out,” said Balakmaran, a UCSD computer engineering student. “Now we have 30 members of the club. They come from the West Indies, England, India, South Africa, Pakistan, Kenya . . . and we have a handful of Americans.”

While the team grows, so does its financial needs. According to Balakmaran, cricket bats--which resemble hazing paddles--cost between $100 and $400.

For the batsman, gloves, shin and thigh guards are a must, “because the ball is bowled so fast, up to 100 m.p.h.,” Balakmaran said.

The club is in the process of acquiring a piece of 22-yard-long matting at a cost of $600. In cricket, the equivalent of baseball’s pitch is bounced to the batter. The new matting is crucial, Balakmaran said, “because the ball has a seam and how it hits on the matting is very important.” As it stands, the bounce off the grass is not as it should be. “It’s not even,” he said.

The club follows the international cricket season, from April until early September, and is close to gaining admittance in the Southern California Cricket Assn., Balakmaran said.

“We need more practice,” he said. “We’ve won some matches, drawn some matches, but we’ll be considered a B team when we begin league play.

“Cricket and soccer are the two most popular sports in Sri Lanka,” said Balakmaran, who grew up playing cricket, as did club member Andrew Keetly of Birmingham, England.

“Everything about cricket is the same in different countries, except the styles,” said Keetly, who is a structural engineering student.

Americans, of course, are befuddled by the game. It is difficult to find one who understands even the most basic premise.

But baseball worshipers are indebted to cricket, because former cricketers Harry Wright and his brother George--whose father was a professional player in England--organized and managed the first professional baseball club, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1866. Marylebone, the first cricket club and the body that oversees the game, was formed in 1744.

Baseball, criticized by some for its slowness, is but an impatient little brother of cricket, which is played at the leisurely pace of another era.

International test matches at one time regularly took five days to be completed. One-day test matches were a breakthrough.

The SCCA plays what is called a “limited-over match,” with a one-day time limit. Still, many matches are not played out and end in a draw.

Sanjay Patel of Kenya is one of the early club members. When he first came to San Diego four years ago, Patel said he was disappointed cricket wasn’t played here.

“It was a letdown at first,” he said. “I had to try other sports, like baseball. It’s just not the same thing. In baseball, you only get one hit. In cricket, you get to keep playing until you’re out.”

Although there are only two innings in cricket, they last much longer than baseball innings. There are 10 outs--called “wickets”--per side in a cricket match and they occur less often. A batsman can score as many as 100 runs in his time up. The average score per team for a complete game at the test level can run as high as 300 or 400.

Both Balakmaran and Keetly said baseball is much more boisterous a sport than cricket.

“Cricket is very disciplined,” Balakmaran said. “It’s not like baseball when you’re shouting three inches from the umpire’s face. It’s a gentleman’s game.”

“You’d be ejected if you did that in cricket,” said Keetly.

Along with etiquette, thinking is required.

“Bowlers (equivalent of baseball pitchers) analyze everything,” Balakmaran said. “The minute the batsman walks in, the bowler begin to analyze him, the way he stands, the way he strokes the ball, it’s very technical. It’s a very stylish, theoretical game.”

“Cricket is more discipline than anything else,” Keetly said. “You need to be able to make decisions fast, and you have to have good hand-eye coordination to be a good cricket player.”

That many Americans confuse cricket with croquet doesn’t bother Keetly.

“It’s not an American sport, which doesn’t really surprise us,” he said. “If Americans don’t want soccer, then they certainly won’t want cricket, and soccer’s more popular than cricket. Americans, I think, aren’t too keen on having another sport, a year-round sport anyway, with all the things they already have to play.”

Besides, Keetly said, “Interest in cricket comes from being brought up with it. Unlike baseball, watching cricket helps you understand it a lot. The more you play, the more interest you get in it.”

The Basics of Cricket

Sides: 11 players on each, called “cricketers.” Fielders have names such as point, cover point, short slip, third man, square leg and silly mid-on.

Equipment: The ball is similar in size to a baseball. Bats have a flat surface. Defensive players wear no gloves, except for the wicketkeeper (whose position is somewhat similar to a baseball catcher). Batsmen wear protective gloves, shin and thigh guards and occasionally helmets.

Field: Approximately 400 by 500 feet. In the middle is the “pitch,” 66 feet long and 12 feet wide. At each end of the pitch is a “wicket”--three wooden “stumps” 28 inches high and topped by cross-pieces called “bails.” Defensive players are stationed strategically around the outside of the pitch.

To play: At each wicket stands a “bowler,” the equivalent of baseball’s pitcher. The bowler runs and then “bowls,” the ball overarm toward a batsman standing at the other wicket in such a way that it bounces before reaching the wicket. The batsman tries to hit the ball away from the fielders so he and a teammate stationed at the other wicket--the “non-striker”--may exchange places. Each exchange is one run, but a ball hit an extra long way can score more--a “sixer” 6 runs and a “boundary” 4.

There are no foul balls; a ball may be hit to the front, side or back of the batsman. If a batter doesn’t feel he can beat the fielder’s throw, he can choose not to run. Once a bowler has thrown six balls at one wicket--called an “over”--a teammate bowls to the batsman at the opposite wicket.

Outs: A batsman is out if: a hit ball is caught in the air; a bowled ball knocks the bails off the wicket behind him; the batsman blocks the ball with his legs; the batsman knocks the bails off the wicket with his bat; or a fielder “breaks” the wicket by hitting it with the ball while the batsman is running between wickets.

Innings: Each inning consists of 10 outs for each side. Major matches consist of two innings and can last several days.