British Culture_sports

British Culture: Sport

Sports play an important part in the life of the Englishmen and is a popular leisure activity.

Many of the world's famous sports began in England, including cricket, football, lawn tennis and rugby.

1.Cricket

Cricket is an England's national sport. Cricket is a bat-and-ball sport contested by two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field, roughly oval in shape.

How to play Cricket

Teams are made up of 11 players each. They play with a ball slightly smaller than a baseball and a bat shaped like a paddle. Two batters stand in front of wickets, set about 20 metres apart. Each wicket consists of three wooden rods pushed into the ground, with two small pieces of wood (bails) balanced on top. A member of the opposing team (the bowler) throws the ball towards one of the batters, who must hit the ball so that it does not knock a bail off the wicket. If the ball travels far enough, the two batters run back and forth between the wickets while the fielders on the opposing team try to catch the ball. The game is scored according to the number of runs, which is the number of times the batters exchange places. Runs are also scored if the batsman hits the ball to the boundary of the playing area. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.

Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years and is one of the most popular sports in the world. It originated in its modern form in England and is most popular in the present and former members of the Commonwealth. In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladeh and Sr Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport. It is also a major sport in England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean.

2.Tennis

Tennis is a game played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players (doubles). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt (most of the time yellow, but can be any color or even two-tone) over a net into the opponent's court.

The world's most famous tennis tournament is Wimbledon. It started at a small club in south London in the nineteenth century. Held annually between late June and the beginning of July for two weeks (usually ending, at the latest, on the second Sunday of July), at a time when English often have the finest weather. Millions of people watch the Championships on TV live.

As with the other three Grand Slam events, Wimbledon was contested by top-ranked amateur players until the advent of the open era in tennis in 1968. Britains are very proud of the tournament but it is a source of national anguish and humour вЂ" no British man has won the singles event at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, and no British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977.

Note: Wimbledon is the oldest of all the major tennis tournaments beginning in 1877. The rewards of prize money began in 1968 when the total purse allocated was Ð'Ј26,150