Variant – 1 Choose the best answer

Read the text. Then choose the correct answer for each

question below (33-36).

The British are great lovers of competitive sports; and when they are neither playing nor watching games they like to talk about them, or when they cannot do that, to think about them. The game particularly associated with England is cricket. Many other games, which are English in origin, have been adopted with enthusiasm all over the world, but cricket has been seriously adopted only in the former British empire, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, The Indies and South Africa.

Cricket is played by men and boys, women and girls.

There are two teams of eleven each. One team must bat , and

the other team must field. When the first team finishes

batting, the second team must begin. The batsman must all

the time guard his "wicket", three pieces of wood that are

pushed into the ground. The game is very slow. Organized

amateur cricket is played between club teams, mainly on

Saturday afternoons from May to the end of September.

Nearly every village except in the far North has its cricket

club. A first-class match between English counties lasts for

up to three days, with six hours' play on each day. When

England plays with one of the cricketing countries such as

Australia or New Zealand it is called a test match and it

lasts for five days.