GOINGS ON : SANTA BARBARA : It’s Cricket : The genteel sport is a feature of the Semana Nautica festival. At halftime, the sides take tea.

Unwritten laws governing gentlemanly behavior, lace tablecloths and burp-less cucumbers all have their place in the game of cricket.

“It is the spirit of the game, the good manners and traditions, and not just the technique which is important,” said Wally Jayasinghe, a resident of Ventura and president of the Santa Barbara Cricket Club.

The club, which was formed in 1921 and is the oldest on the West Coast, will hold a match against the Corinthian Casuals of the San Fernando Valley. The game will be played on July 8, the final day of Santa Barbara’s Semana Nautica festival, which starts June 30. The celebration, now in its 53rd year, will feature 42 sporting events held throughout the city.

“Cricket is a gentleman’s game,” Jayasinghe said. “It is meant to be played under conditions of very good manners and honor.” According to Jayasinghe, fights and foul words are alien to the sport, and “playing with the intent to injure an opposing team member is tantamount to cheating.”

While other sports use halftime break to critique the first half and prepare strategy for the second, cricket players use it to meet members of the opposing team and share hot tea, cake, fruit, and cucumber sandwiches. “Of course,” Jayasinghe said, “they must be hothouse cucumbers because they’re burp-less.”

“We always use a tablecloth for teatime, generally a lace one,” he said. “It’s one of those minor traditions we try not to let go of. Cricket was first played in England almost 800 years ago, and it’s full of such small but respected traditions that have been passed down through the centuries.

“Passing these rules of behavior on to the next generation invariably helps build character. Cricket is not just a game. It’s a way of life. In all my years I have never met a man or woman who plays cricket to be of poor character,” said the 59-year-old Jayasinghe. A native of Sri Lanka, he began playing the British game at age 8, and continued when he moved to the States at age 17.

In 1984, Jayasinghe weathered a crisis when the club decided to stop using traditional porcelain tea cups and switch to plastic foam.

“The directors took a vote and Styrofoam won for practical reasons,” Jayasinghe said. “It was very hard on me, but my wife loved the idea. Before, she washed all the cups, so she thought the change was a very sensible idea.”

One tradition that Jayasinghe would like to see the club maintain is its yearly participation in Semana Nautica. The event, which means Marine Week in Spanish, is held each summer, turning the Independence Day holiday into a nine-day celebration.

In 1936, local residents challenged the crews of five Navy ships moored outside the harbor to an array of nautical contests. The festival has grown into a major sporting extravaganza. This year’s competitions range from swimming, scuba diving and fishing, to soccer, fencing and backgammon. In addition, there will be a free sports medicine and fitness symposium and several Navy ships will cruise in for a visit. And for the first time, local artists will show their works at a sports art show. And, of course, there will be a rousing game of cricket, what?

“Each year we invite a team for the Semana Nautica encounter which in the past season has given us a game in the true spirit of cricket,” Jayasinghe said. “That honor has repeatedly fallen upon the Corinthian team for about five years now. The games we play are enthusiastic and competitive. But for us competition and winning are not the end-all and be-all. We play for the joy of the game.”

* WHERE AND WHEN: Semana Nautica runs from June 30 to July 8. Many competitions are still open to participants and all are free to spectators. A schedule of events is available at the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce or call 564-2052. The cricket match will be held July 8, noon to 6 p.m., at Laguna Blanca School.