Cricket finds Local Devotees

 by Carter Cromwell

It's nearly noon on Super Bowl Sunday. In slightly more than an hour, television's pregame buildup will begin. Most Americans are pacing at home, nervously watching the TV set with anticipatory twitches that steadily become more pronounced.

Most, but not all.

On this most hallowed day in sports, a rather short, slight man is pacing back and forth across a large playing field in Santa Clara.

Against the green field and backdrop of tall trees, he is resplendent in white shirt, white pullover sweater, white pants, white socks and white shoes. Longish tousled blond hair and an occasional bead of sweat fall over his forehead.

He is pushing a lawn mower and preparing the pitch for cricket.

Cricket is a game given credit by some for spawning baseball, as well as a term for measuring fairness. Beyond that, most Americans don't know it from croquet, particularly on Super Bowl Sunday.

But Stan Kent does.

Nearly every Sunday between 11 AM and noon you can find him mowing a section of the W.A. Wilson Adult Education Center field. It's part of the deal. Before the Santa Clara Cricket Club can practice or play a match, the grass has to be cut very, very short and packed down with a roller so that it's like a putting green.

This isn't the NFL. At this level, you do it yourself.

As a child in England, cricket's birthplace, Kent played the game from age 6 through high school. But he left it behind when he came to the United States to attend Stanford and later work as an aerospace engineer and nightclub owner.

About nine months ago, an impromptu game with members of an Australian band playing at his club rekindled hit interest.

"The Australians beat us soundly," he said, "but I realized there was still a spark in me. Several other people said they'd like to keep playing, so I contacted the City of Santa Clara and was able to obtain a year-round permit for use of the field on weekends."

Since then, the club roster has swelled to 55. A few are Americans, but most are natives of England and countries such as Pakistan, Australia, India and others that were once British colonies. They play against the Britannia Arms club and Stanford.

"I've been in the US. for six years," said Laks Sampath, a native of India who lives in Santa Cruz. "I'd been wanting an outlet for cricket, but I was really surprised to find one."

The sport is so obscure in the United States that Kent has to order equipment from a store in Vancouver, British Columbia. Still, there is a group called the Northern California Cricket Association, which Santa Clara will join this spring.

"I guess because of my experience as a nightclub owner I'm used to promoting," Kent said, "and we're aggressively trying to bring cricket into the public eye."

But just what is this game?

Actually, it's part sport and part pastime. Two teams of 11 players compete. In the center of the "oval" is an area 22 yards long by 8 feet, 8 inches wide called the "wicket." In the wicket are two sets of wooden stakes called "stumps." The pitcher, or "bowler" is at one end of the wicket and the "batsman" is at the other.

The bowler gets a running start of 10 to 20 yards, hurls the ball overhanded and tries to bounce it. The batsman hits the ball with a bat that's flat on one side, and then he runs to the other end of the wicket.

Runs are scored when the batsman at both ends of the wicket are able to safely swap positions. Outs are made by throwing the ball and knocking the "bails," small wooden pegs, balanced atop the stumps. Fielders don't use gloves.

Cricket can be fiercely competitive, especially on the international level, but the social aspect is equally strong. The players wear white uniforms and afterward enjoy tea and cucumber sandwiches -- "high tea" -- in England - and then a trip to the pub.

"It's not a fast game, but it's competitive. The pace is just right," said Dave Green, an English native who's been in the United States only six months. He hadn't played cricket in 15 years.

"A major part of the enjoyment of cricket is the social element," Kent said. "One of my fondest memories of growing up is of playing cricket on Sunday afternoons and then socializing afterward. My eventual goal is to set up a traditional English situation ... have a pub overlooking the green with good ales and English teas."

First, though, there is the task of building the team, which has several good bowlers but few strong batsmen.

"We're learning and having fun, but we're not on a high level yet." Kent said.

The Americans, in particular, are just learning.

"We've had some really funny things happen, like two batsmen running and watching the flight of the ball and then crashing into one another," Kent said. "Another time, a guy backed over the wicket and the stumps went flying. The runner fell over laughing."

American Scott Winkler, a former foreign exchange student in London, said, "Remembering to not drop the bat after you hit the ball is tough."

Ben Kline. another American who once lived in England, added, "It's easy to forget, too, that when you hit the ball behind you, it's not foul. You should run."

"There are a lot of rules I still don't understand, but it's a good game. Very casual. You can get some exercise without killing yourself."

© San Jose Mercury News