The crack of leather on willow — after the footy finals (all codes) and before the Australian Open starts – announces the arrival of summer. And one thing cricket has that those sports don’t*? A tea break.

Test match cricket is a curious game. It’s played between two teams who get two innings each to better the other over five days (maybe). With such expansive gameplay, it’s no wonder each day is broken up into three two-hour sessions: morning to lunch; afternoon to tea-time; and evening to the close of the day’s play.

The initial spread of the sport of cricket was between England and its colonies, so you might expect that the insertion of a tea break was an English idea. Turns out that it was an Australian invention that pre-dates The Ashes, which is now the name of the test series between Australia and England, the oldest cricket rivalry.

It became standard practice for teams to take a tea break while playing test matches in Australia from around 1881-82, which is congruent with 19th-century statistics showing that Australia had the highest per capita consumption of tea in the world. And it really was a tea break: players had a stimulating cuppa and some light refreshments to recharge.

In England it took a while to become ingrained in the matches. During the 1899 tour of England, Australian captain Joe Darling suggested it, but it was taken on the field – china cups and saucers and all. It wasn’t until 1905 that the break saw the players returning to their respective pavilions to recharge, regroup and re-strategise away from the other team.

Today a test match tea break is 20 minutes long and may or may not involve actual tea-drinking. But across the world there are so many cricket-playing nations that not only grow tea (India, Sri Lanka, Kenya) but whose tea culture is as strong as their regard for cricket. So next time you’re spectating at a long game, be sure to refresh yourself when the players do with a cuppa for old times’ sake.

*There is one other sport with a tea break, however. It’s not as popular as cricket but has a minor cultural impact thanks to Lewis Carroll, who also penned the iconic Mad Hatter’s tea party. Care to guess? It’s croquet.

This article originally appeared in AUSTCS enews 14 January 2025.