What a Great Commentary Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cricket

A cricket match is divided into phases of play known as "innings", with each of the two teams batting for either one or two innings depending on the type of match. A player scores a six when he hits the ball so that it crosses the boundary (as indicated by a rope that runs around the perimeter of the field) without hitting the ground. If the ball touches the ground before crossing the boundary, a four is scored.

Answer: Formula 1

Prior to each Formula 1 race, the drivers have to complete a session known as qualifying in order to determine how they line up on the starting grid on race day, with the cars being ranked from fastest to slowest in qualifying. The further up the grid a driver is, the better chance he has of winning the race, as there are fewer cars he needs to pass in order to get to the front.

The best possible place to be is pole position, as this is right at the front of the grid, meaning a driver has no cars to pass in order to get to the front!

Answer: Tennis

Each point in tennis begins with a serve. This requires the server to throw the ball in the air, and hit it over the net so that it lands in a specific area known as the service box. If the ball lands in the service box, and the opposing player fails to hit it, this is known as an "ace", and the server wins the point.

It is really beneficial to serve aces in tennis, as this means you win the point without having to hit another shot during that particular point.

Answer: Curling

Related to bowls and shuffleboard, curling is a sport that originated in Scotland, and sees two teams taking turns to slide heavy polished stones or "rocks" towards a target on the ground that looks a bit like a big archery target! Every time a team member slides a stone towards the target, this is known as a "delivery".

The aim is for the team to get as many of their stones closer to the centre circle of the target (known as the "button") than the other team, and they earn one point for each of their stones that meets this criterion.

Answer: Cycling

Competitive cycling has become a popular sport, particularly in Europe, with the most famous bicycle race being the Tour de France, which is held annually in July. Often held over multiple stages and/or days, bicycle races test the riders strategically as well as physically, and often end in sprint finishes to determine the winner. During a bicycle race, the field will often spread out, and the main group of riders is referred to as the peloton.

Answer: American Football

Also known as gridiron, American football is a sport in which two teams compete over four quarters of fifteen minutes each with the aim of scoring the most points at the end of the game. There are various different ways of scoring - a touchdown is worth six points, a field goals is worth 3 points, a safety is worth two points, a two-point conversion is worth two points, and an extra point conversion is worth one point.

The three-point field goal is scored when a player (generally a specialist kicker) kicks the ball through his opponents' goal posts during a specifically called kicking play.

Many games have been won via this method.

Answer: Soccer

The most popular sport in the world, soccer (or association football) was first played in England in 1863, and is now played by over 250 million players. Each match (which lasts for two halves of forty-five minutes each) sees two teams trying to score more goals than each other.

A goal is scored when the ball crosses the goal-line of the opposing team, and can be legitimately scored as long as the ball comes off any body part other than the arm or hand. A header is, as the name suggests, a goal that is scored when the ball comes off the head of a player, and a hat-trick is when a player scores three goals in a match.

Answer: Golf

A game (or round) of golf is generally played over eighteen holes, with each player trying to complete the course in as few shots (or strokes) as possible. On each hole, the player plays their first shot from the tee, and hits their ball towards the green, a designated are of very close cut grass that contains the hole into which they are trying to deposit their ball. Once on the green, the player will used a specialised club known as a putter to try to hit (or putt) their ball into the hole. A player scores a birdie when they get the ball into the hole by taking one shot less than the recommended number of shots for that particular hole, which is known as the par score (or simply par).

Answer: Darts

In competitive darts, two players take turns to throw three darts (also known as arrows) at a circular board (known as a dart board) that is hung on the wall with the aim of scoring exactly 501 points before their opponent. In most competitions, a player must complete his 501 by scoring either a double (one of the outer scoring segments on the board) or a bullseye (the small circular area right in the middle of the board).

The maximum score a player can achieve with three darts is one hundred and eighty, and this is scored when all three darts end up in the treble twenty scoring segment.

Answer: Snooker

Snooker is a table sport, generally played between two opponents, that is divided into games (known as frames). Points are scored by hitting the white ball (also known as the cue ball) with your cue so that it strikes a coloured ball that is currently "on" (i.e. one that is legally allowed to be hit) and deposits it into one of the six pockets on the table.

The depositing of a ball that is "on" into a pocket is known as a "pot". If you have scored more points than your opponent when the frame ends, you win that frame.

A match consists of a pre-determined number of frames, and may be split into a number of sessions, each of which will consists of a certain number of frames. A "break" is when a player continues to pot balls that are "on" one after the other, and a "ton" is a slang term that is often used when a player makes a break of one hundred or more.