Wicket Cool

Debuted at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island,
American Pro Cricket, the first professional cricket circuit in
the U.S. Last Friday a raucous opening-night crowd of nearly
1,000 watched the Florida Thunder beat the New York Storm 92-88.
Diehards were pleased by the continuous scoring and several
diving, bare-handed catches. Fans who didn't know a googly from a
glide could fall back on traditional ballpark frills like YMCA on
the sound system, as well as a bongo drummer in the stands. Says
Mervyn Dillon, 30, the Storm's frontline bowler, "Essentially,
we're putting on a show."

League founder Kal Patel says Pro Cricket has enough funding from
investors to last three years. He is also making cable and
pay-per-view television deals, meaning all he needs now is a fan
base. To draw audiences to a sport known in the U.S. for weeklong
matches and white-garbed players--if it's known at all--Patel
made radical rules changes to keep matches under three hours,
added color to uniforms and instituted a DH rule.

The league's eight teams, spread from New York to Los Angeles,
are made up of local club players and 40 international
stars--such as Dillon, a seven-year veteran of the West Indies
national team--who will rotate from team to team. Most matches
will be played in temporarily retrofitted minor league baseball
parks. On Friday groundskeepers flattened the pitcher's mound and
laid out the wicket in the outfield.

"I like the challenge of taking a sport to a new audience," says
Colin Miller, a former member of Australia's national team who is
now playing in the league. "I would like to see if we could steal
a few converts from baseball by season's end." --Lisa Altobelli

TWO COLOR PHOTOS: CHUCK SOLOMON (2) BOWLED OVER A festive Staten Island crowd saw a swift, action-packed game.