3. Hockey

It may come as a surprise to many Russian readers that in England hockey is primarily a women's or girls' game, played on a field. The full name is "field hockey" (травяной хоккей), but this is rarely used, because in practice "hockey" means field hockey. "Ice-hockey" is always given its full name, and so there is no confusion.' Men also play (field) hockey, which is then called "men's hockey", and the game is then faster and rougher, but it is not generally popular with men. Many girls play hockey at school, although not many keep it up afterwards, and therefore the word "hockey" to an English person evokes a picture of schoolgirls on a playing-field. "Ice-hockey" is played in England, by men, but it is a minority sport. The main reason for this is that the climate is too mild to allow skating out of doors, except in rare cases, and not everyone, even in a large town, has an ice rink near his home.

Russian speakers should remember always to use the full name "ice-hockey" when talking to English people, since otherwise the latter will assume that it is field hockey. English peo­ple are not usually familiar with the rules of ice-hockey, nor do they know that there are two kinds, one played with a ball and one with a puck (шайба). The latter type is slightly better known, but the word "puck" is rare­ly used, since few people discuss ice-hockey.

4. Net-ball, basket-ball, volley-ball

Net-ball and basket-ball are basically the same game. The ball has to be thrown into a net or basket fixed to a post. Net-ball is played by schoolgirls in England, but basket-ball is hard­ly played at all, and most people do not even know what sort of game it is. Volley-ball is as little known as basket-ball; many people do not know how it is played.

5. Grounders

This is a girls' or children's game, on the same principle as base-ball, which is very popular in the United States, but practically unknown in Britain. It is played on a field by two teams, with a bat and a small hard ball. A point, called a rounder (hence the name of the game), is scored each time a player hits the ball far enough to run round four posts, or bases, before the ball is returned.

Base-ball, the American version, is played by men, and is a faster, rougher game.

6. Cricket

Cricket is almost as popular in the summer as football is in the winter. Many boys play cricket at school, and some continue to play after they leave school, in amateur cricket clubs. Cricket is also a popular spectator sport, although its popularity has declined to some extent in recent years. It is a very complicated game, which foreigners generally find baffling. It is impossible to describe briefly, and in any case a description without illustration (that is, watching a game in progress) is unlikely to give a clear idea. Cricket is played by two teams of eleven play­ers dressed in white (white trousers, shirt and sweater) on a large field. It is a slow game, and may last an afternoon, as in the case of most amateur matches, or several days, as with professional matches (see below). There are two types of professional cricket match: a county match and a test-match. County matches are those played between teams representing the different counties, and last for three days each (from 11.30 a. m. to 6.30 p. m., with breaks for lunch and tea). In these matches the county teams compete in the County Cricket Championship, the winner being the county with the highest number of points/-**? at the end of the season.

Test-matches are international matches played against those other countries where cricket is popular: Australia, New Zealand, India, Paki­stan, and the West Indies. Each summer one of these countries sends a team to England, and each winter an England team tours one of these countries. Test-matches last five days and there are five matches in a series. Which­ever team wins three or more of the matches wins the series. "Test" is often used instead of "test-match".

e. g. a) The first test starts tomorrow.

b) He's watching/listening to the test (meaning listening to the test-match on the radio, or watching it on televi­sion).

The MCC, the Marylebone Cricket

Club, in London, is the governing body of

English cricket.

Lord's and The Oval are the two cricket

grounds in London. The final test is traditionally

played at Lord's.

Cricket ['krikit] should not be confused with

croquet ['kroukei] (крокет), which is rarely

played nowadays.