Bat the Target into the Net Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bats

The earliest reference to cricket is in the mid-sixteenth century in England where it then spread throughout the world as the British Empire expanded. The first known international matches were in the late 1800s.

Cricket is played with two teams of 11 players. The game is played on a 20 metre pitch with wickets at each end which have two bails balanced on three stumps. There are two batters in play at any time - one at each wicket, their object is to hit the ball and run between the wickets. The time it takes for all 11 batters to bat is called an innings.

All 11 fielders, including the bowlers, are on the field in designated positions. Their aim is to get the batter out in one of the 9 differing ways that this can be achieved.

Each bowler makes six legal deliveries bowled from one end of the pitch to the player batting at the other end. This is referred to as an 'over'. The play then switches to the bowler at the other end and is repeated.

In international cricket the number of overs or innings determines the length of play. The longest form, known as Test cricket has 4 innings and can last for up to 5 days. One Day International games are limited to 50 overs per side and the most recent, T20, has 20 overs each.

Answer: Bats

The earliest recorded version of baseball is in England in 1744 where it was called Base-Ball. It has long been accepted that it was derived from the much earlier game of rounders which is still played by children today. The rules of what is today baseball were formalized in 1845 and the first recorded game in America was a year later.

The game consists of 2 teams of 9 players who take turns in batting and fielding. It is played on a diamond shaped field with bases at each point. The goal of the batting team is to hit the ball as far as possible and to run as far around the bases as possible and to get back to home base without getting out. The fielding team pitches the ball and tries to stop the player from either being able to run at all or not being able to finish their run.

An inning in baseball consists of six players being out - 3 from each team and most adult league games last for 9 innings.

Answer: Bats

Longball is a Danish game but is also played in British schools, the scouts and the Royal Navy. It is a hybrid of baseball, cricket and dodgeball and like them it has 2 teams that take turns at batting or fielding but it does not have a specified amount of players as long as the teams are of equal size.

The game is played on a square field with a safety zone at each end. Fielders may choose to be inside or outside of the square. The batter must hit the ball inside the square and it must hit the ground before bouncing or rolling outside of it. They then run to the safe zone on the other side where they may rest if they want but they cannot get a run without returning back to the original side.

The fielders meanwhile aim to hit the batters with the ball, below the head, to get them out. The fielders cannot move with the ball, if they don't have a clear shot they need to throw it to another player in a better position.

The only way to win a game of Longball is for one team to reach 50 runs or the other to forfeit.

Answer: Bats

Vigoro was invented in Australia in 1901 and was mostly played by women. The original game involved tennis racquets and wickets and did combine elements of tennis and cricket but today's rules make it more similar to cricket and baseball.

The game is played on a pitch that is approximately 18 metres which is shorter than a cricket pitch and the ball is lighter. The bat now appears like a paddle with a long handle. It is played with two teams of 12 players and lasts for two innings. As with all of these games the aim is for a team to score more runs than the opposing team.

Other differences include having only one batsman who can only bat from one end - they still have two bowlers but they bowl alternately from the same end and they may use any type of pitch as long as it is not underarm.

Answer: Nets

The origins of tennis are in France in the late middle ages while England founded the modern lawn tennis in the late 1800s. It is a racket sport that is played either individually or between two teams of two players each.

The court is a rectangular surface, a net is stretched across the entire middle of the court parallel with the baselines. It is an unusual game in that it can be played on different surfaces - clay, grass or a hard court.

The players start on opposite sides of the net and take turns in serving. The server must start behind the baseline but the receiver can choose their position. The ball must travel over the net without touching it into the diagonally opposite box for it to be considered legal.

A legal service will start a rally between the players, legal returns must go over the net before the ball has bounced twice. The rally continues until one of the players does not make a valid return.

Scoring consists of winning enough points to win a game, then enough games to win a set and then again to win enough sets to win the game. These are variable numbers depending on different margins, sex and tournaments.

Answer: Nets

Badminton's roots can be traced to ancient civilisations but the version we play today originated in the mid-nineteenth century in British India. The game is played on a rectangular court divided in half by the net, court sizes do differ slightly between singles and doubles matches.

The racquet has a longer handle than tennis and is a quarter of the weight lighter. The head is also smaller and was traditionally oval but symmetrical racquets are also now available.

The major difference between it and other net games is that it is played with a shuttlecock instead of a ball. The shuttlecock is a feathered plastic projectile that flies differently than a ball. The feathers create drag which means it actually decelerates quickly. Plastic versions can be used outside of tournaments.

The serve and rally is similar to tennis except the shuttlecock cannot bounce. In the original rules players won when they reached 15 points but could only win a point if they had served. Now a point is earned regardless and the game is played to 21 points. A match is the best of 3 games.

Answer: Nets

Volleyball was created as a sport called Mintonette in 1895 in the US and evolved to become the game it is today. It is also played on a rectangular court being separated in half by a net. Each side has six players, three along the back and three in front.

Each team takes turns serving and the object of the game is to make the ball hit the ground on the opponent's side while stopping it hitting yours. After a team wins the serve its players must rotate positions around the court in a clockwise direction.

Players can legally strike or push the ball with any part of the body, each side can only touch the ball three times before returning play and no player can touch it twice in a row.

There are many ways to win a point in the game but the first team to score 25 points by a two-point margin wins the set and the matches are the best of five sets.

Answer: Nets

Biribol was invented in 1968 in Birigui in Brazil. It is very similar to a pool version of volleyball. It is played in an 8 metre rectangular pool with a standard depth of 1.3 metres.

It officially has four players a side but has been played as a doubles game. The objectives of the game are the same as volleyball and so are the penalties and scoring.

The inside borders of the pool are considered neutral so the ball remains in play if it touches them. The sport has gained popularity as it works all muscle groups with very low impact on joints or injuries.

Answer: Targets

Archery has been used for thousands of years in hunting and combat but is mostly used in this day and age as a sport. It literally means the skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. Participants are known as archers or bowmen although they can officially be called toxophilites.

As a modern sport, target archery is the most popular where the idea is to shoot arrows at a target from a specified distance. It can be played as an individual or team sport. Competitions can be indoor or outdoor with indoor usually only one distance while outdoor usually has several distances to shoot. Standard targets are a typical 'bullseye' design with 10 concentric circles with different values for scoring.

There are many different types of bows made in different styles and different materials but they all have the string which is adjoined to the elastic limbs of the bow. The elasticity in the bow is what stores mechanical energy as the string is drawn. When the string is released so is the energy which is what propels the arrow.

Arrows all consist of the shaft, arrowhead, fletching and a nock. The shaft can be made of multiple materials as can the arrowhead which is the sharp tip of the arrow that penetrates its target.

The fletching is at the opposite end and is a fin shaped aerodynamic device used for stabilization. The nock is a notch that helps hold the arrow in place before release.

Answer: Targets

Bowling is a sport where a player rolls a ball towards another target with the aim of either hitting it or getting the closest to it. There are two variations of bowling - pin and target.

Pin bowling includes ten-pin, candlepin, duckpin, nine-pin and five-pin all of which originated from skittles. The size of the skittles and balls vary between all of these. Ten pin has the heaviest of both and is played individually or as a team. They are all played on long playing surfaces called lanes, these are oiled wood or synthetic surfaces that a player rolls the ball down from the top to the pins at the bottom.

In ten-pin the game is played in ten 'frames' and each player has two rolls per frame. The goal is to knock down as many pins as possible. All ten in one roll is called a strike and a spare is knocking them all down in 2 rolls.

Target bowls usually involves the bowler trying to roll their ball towards another target and get the closest to it. It can be played on multiple surfaces depending on the game and may be played indoor or outdoor.

In the UK and its Commonwealth lawn bowls is also referred to as bowling. This is played on a bowling green which is divided up into strips called rinks. These can be either perfectly flat or deliberately uneven depending on which code is being played.

In single bowls each player has 4 biased balls that they bowl towards the jack, a smaller ball down the other end of the strip. Their aim is to be the closest to it but then the other player may hit either the jack or their opponent's balls out of the way with their next bowl.

Other target bowls games include bocce, carpet bowls, petanque, and boules.

Answer: Targets

Darts have been played since the late 1800s and remain a classic pub game as well as becoming a professional sport. Players throw darts, small pointed missiles, into a dart board from a specified distance and then score depending on where the darts land.

It is usually played between two players but can have more in pub rules. Each player has 3 darts to throw per turn, all 3 are thrown before the board is cleared and they must stay in the board to be counted.

The dartboard is circular and divided into 20 sections which were allocated in a random order that are now standard. Each section has areas within it that determine the score of each dart. Each 'slice' (picture a pie) has two large areas where you gain the point of that slice. There are then two rings. The outer one which is slightly bigger doubles you score and the inner ring triples your score and then there is the bullseye which gives you 50 points.

Eg. The top of the board is the number 20, the 2 large areas within its 'slice' will give you a score of 20 points. The small area on the outer ring will give you 40 points and the inner ring will give you 60. If you mange three of those in a row you would get 180 points which is the highest score possible.

Scoring in darts is unusual in that it is played backwards. You have a starting point, commonly 301 or 501, and every score you make is taken off the score until someone wins by reaching 0.

Answer: Targets

Jukskei is believed to have originated in South Africa in the mid-1700s. It began with commercial travelers who drove ox drawn wagons and devised a game from the wooden pins from in the yokes which is where the name comes from; 'juk' is Afrikaans for yoke and 'skei' means divider. They would plant a stick in the ground and throw the 'skeis' at it to see who could knock it over.

Official rules were established in 1939 and it became a recognized sport. It is played in a sandpit that is anywhere between 10 to 16 metres depending on the players ages. It can be played as singles or doubles but it is more common to be two teams of four.

The aim is still to knock over a central pin known as the peg and each player has two skeis to attempt this. If the peg is knocked over the player gets 3 points. If no-one knocks the peg over the team with the closest skei wins a point for every one of their team's skeis that is closer than their opponents. The game is played to exactly 23 points, if the team goes over then they start back from 0.

Apart from South Africa it is also played in Namibia and the US with an annual tournament between them.