AUCKLAND. Feb 1: (AFP): Cricket, the dull and boring game played by men in white flannels right?

Not the way it will be played here This month when tne Pacific version of the game — ki-likiti finally gets centre stage at Eden Park. New Zealand's home of the English game.

In an instant everything will change — the men. for one thing, will be wearing colourful lavalava or skirts, they'll be armed with fearsome looking three-sided clubs and the solid natural rubber balls will make a cricket six look like a quiet schoolboy knock.

The New Zealand Herald re-Corted Monday that during the reak in the one-day international between Australia and New Zealand on February 19. the champion sides in an Auckland kilikiti competition will play an exhibition game.

Kilikiti Is the off-spring of the London Missionary Society's assignment to civilise the natives in the Pacific in the 19th Century'. But the way it turned out was perhaps not what the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) had in mind.

Forget 11-men teams. Quickly the Pacific adopted a variation to that rule — the whole village could form a team. Away games were a substitute for war: entire villages of men. women and children all playing. Wickets were any uprights that could be found and forget the smack of willow on leather.

Willow doesn't grow in the Pacific so any wood would do. provided it produced a grunty rnan-sized weapon. At first balls were a tad bit frail until

some une had the bright idea of using fresh, rubber latex to make the balls. And lots of them — because when a hefty Samoan with a mighty bat connects with a tiny bouncy ball something really flies.

Lots of local rules came into play as a result — balls into the lagoon could be acceptable in one village, a disadvantage in another.

Kilikiti quickly moved away from cricket. Nothing illustrates it more than traditional cricket's law 42.6 "Incommoding the striker which says its wrong for the fielding side to distract the striker "by any noise or action. An important — perhaps crucial — part of any kilikiti training section is to focus on the on-field chants and dance steps ... And that's real dance

Video-umpiring was a no-go back then, but the Pacific islanders had their committees, and long into the night discussions between elders would occur to determine who won. It as usually a political outcome.

Kilikiti is still played widely in Polynesia — even in places like Funafuti in Tuvalu which is a tiny atoll barely wider than a cricket pitch, so local rules come into play.

Samoa became particularly obsessed by the game to the utter fury of the up-tight German administrators.

They saw Is as a tremendous waste of time and banned, without any success, the ceremonies. feasting and dancing that accompanied any inter-village tournament.

Some said the New Zeal nd military administration w) ch

took over in 1914 only really ot one thing ever right in amoa — they played cricket too.

Auckland, which claims to be the capital city of Polynesia, has a long tradition of both games during the summer and in recent years the Pacific game has become a major part of school sport.

The game has become more formalised — the days of entire villages has gone although in the church league entire parishes can have the right to bat — and a national championship climaxed over the weekend. The Stormers beat Happy Days in the men's final and Lau Laau Farani beat the Gardenias in the women's.