Cricket World in Its Hands

They weren’t asked to make any commercial spots for Disneyland after they won the World Cup, but members of the Sri Lankan cricket team didn’t care.

They still enjoyed themselves at the amusement park Thursday during their weeklong tour of the United States, which culminates with exhibition matches at Woodley Park in Van Nuys today against the U.S. national team and Sunday against the Southern California Cricket Assn. team.

Both fixtures--cricket-speak for games--run from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Sri Lanka upset Australia in the World Cup final last month at Lahore, Pakistan.

The celebration has moved across the world to Southern California.

The Sri Lankan team was entertained at Disneyland, with the exception of Space Mountain--”It made me very sick,” said one player--and headed to Universal Studios on Friday after a brief practice session.

“They’ve earned it,” said Krish Sharma, SCCA president. “In the cricket world right now, you can’t touch them.”

Teams have trouble making contact with Chaminda Vaas, who at 21 is one of Sri Lanka’s youngest players.

He is also the team’s top bowler, which is “like the pitcher,” said Vaas, drawing the comparison between baseball and cricket.

There are, however, some notable differences in delivery.

The ball is delivered with a running start and an overarm, windmill-like motion toward one of two batters standing in a “crease” at each end of a 22-yard pitch.

Some bowlers rely on speed, humming the ball at 90-plus m.p.h.. Others rely on spin, craftily bouncing the ball into or away from the batsman.

Other cricket tidbits:

* A fixture can last four to five days and the 11-man teams can combine for three or four hundred runs, sometimes more. The exhibitions at Woodley Park will be condensed considerably.

* No foul-ball souvenirs here: Only one ball is used the entire game. If a ball is lost, the umpires scratch up a new one before allowing its use.

* A small fence or line 300 feet from the crease marks the boundary of the oval or playing field. Four runs are scored when the ball rolls to the fence or over the boundary line, six if the ball clears the boundary on the fly.

That knowledge will be helpful when Sanath Jayasuriya is batting.

Jayasuriya, the Sri Lankans’ equivalent of a leadoff hitter, broke a world record in World Cup play against Pakistan by producing 100 runs--or a century-- off 48 deliveries.

He hit 11 “sixes” during the span, comparable to Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas belting 11 home runs in 48 pitches.

Not bad.

And not really acknowledged by Jayasuriya.

“I don’t go for records,” said Jayasuriya, who won the prestigious Man of the World Cup tournament award. “I didn’t know about it until after, when they announced it.”

*

Jayasuriya quickly defends his team against suggestions the World Cup victory was an upset. “We won convincingly,” he said. “If you win, you’ve got a better team.”

Jayasuriya, who signed autographs for several fans Friday, did not, however, have a comeback for one fan in particular, who told Jayasuriya, 26, he was balding too early in life.

Jayasuriya’s defense? He laughed. Then he signed.

Sri Lanka also boasts solid batsmen in the second, third, fourth and fifth positions.

“Easily the best team in the world in scoring runs fast,” said Philip Fernando, editor of the Lanka Tribune.

The U.S. national team, a cub on the world cricket scene, is eager to see how it will fare against Sri Lanka.

“Once you get that high, you have to treat them with respect,” said Hopeton Barrett, a U.S. national team member who lives in Northridge. “After they beat India [in the Cup semifinals], they said, ‘Hey, if we look around, we can find some gold.’ ”

The U.S. still is searching for its first berth in the World Cup.

Because of a loss to the United Arab Emirates, the U.S. narrowly missed qualifying for this year’s Cup, which meant two things:

First, it will be the year 2000 before the U.S. has another shot at the World Cup, and second, it will be a relatively short wait.

“We really do have the talent in the U.S. to compete,” said Reginald Benjamin, who played on the national team last year and resides in Woodland Hills. “I don’t know if it was inexperience on our part, but we should have won and [played] with the best in the world.”

That title now belongs to Sri Lanka.