What is the tea break in Test cricket? 20 minutes, and when it moves

A tea break in a Test match lasts 20 minutes and comes before the final session. The 30-minute rules that move it, why Test captains cannot skip it, and the Guwahati Test that took tea before lunch.

The tea break in a Test match lasts 20 minutes. It is the second of the day’s two scheduled intervals: it comes at the end of the second session, normally two hours after play resumes from lunch, and it leads into the final session before stumps.

What follows is from the ICC Men’s Test Match Playing Conditions in force since June 2025, and from the MCC Laws of Cricket, whose 2026 edition took effect on 1 October 2026. Tea is shorter than lunch, but it moves more easily: the tea rules work on a 30-minute window where lunch uses 10.

How long is tea, and when is it taken?

A Test day has six hours of scheduled play in three sessions of two hours. On the standard 9.30am start in India, the day usually looks like this (times IST, agreed before each match):

Part of the day	Typical time	Length
First session	9.30am – 11.30am	2 hours
Lunch	11.30am – 12.10pm	40 minutes
Second session	12.10pm – 2.10pm	2 hours
Tea	2.10pm – 2.30pm	20 minutes
Third session	2.30pm – 4.30pm	2 hours

The 20 minutes is set by the ICC’s playing conditions, not by the Laws. The Laws only say that lunch and tea last whatever was agreed before the match. In Tests, a home board can ask the ICC, with the visiting board’s consent, to change the lengths of lunch and tea, provided the two together still total 60 minutes.

Tea before lunch: the Guwahati Test

The order can change as well as the length. For Guwahati’s first Test, India v South Africa at Barsapara Stadium in November 2025, the BCCI put tea before lunch. India runs on one time zone and the sun sets early in the north-east, so play started half an hour early at 9am. The day went: first session 9–11am, tea 11–11.20am, second session 11.20am–1.20pm, lunch 1.20–2pm, and the final session 2–4pm.

The 60 minutes of breaks stayed the same; only the order was swapped. South Africa won that Test by 408 runs. The ground’s numbers are in our Barsapara Stadium records page.

The 30-minute rules: when tea moves

The tea interval can be brought forward, pushed back or rescheduled in five situations:

An innings ends in the last 30 minutes before tea. Tea is taken immediately, for its full agreed length, and “shall be considered to include the 10-minute interval between innings”. The equivalent window before lunch is only 10 minutes.
The change of innings is already under way. If a 10-minute interval between innings is in progress when the 30-minute mark arrives, play restarts at the end of those 10 minutes rather than going straight into tea.
Weather or light stops play in the last 30 minutes. Tea is taken there and then, unless the umpires and both captains agree to move it.
Play has been suspended for 30 minutes or more before tea. In Tests, tea is then pushed back by 30 minutes automatically.
Time has been lost, or the players have left the field outside a scheduled break. Under Law 11.4, the two umpires and both captains may agree to move tea (or lunch). All four have to agree.

Nine wickets down at tea

The same rule that delays lunch applies at tea. If the batting side is nine down when three minutes remain before the break, or the ninth wicket falls in those three minutes or during the over in progress at the scheduled time, tea is not taken. Play continues until the end of the over in progress 30 minutes after the agreed time, unless the innings ends sooner or the players have to leave the field. A batter retiring does not count as a wicket here. There is more on this in our guide to lunch in Test cricket.

Can the teams skip tea?

Under the Laws of Cricket, yes. In an international Test, no. Law 11.9 lets the captains agree to forgo the tea interval or any drinks interval. The ICC’s Test playing conditions rewrite that clause so it covers drinks intervals only. They also drop the option from the rule on stoppages just before tea. Tea in a Test can be moved or delayed, but the captains cannot agree to skip it.

Tea break in Test cricket: quick answers

How long is the tea break in Test cricket? 20 minutes. Lunch is 40, and in Tests the two must total 60.

When is tea taken? After the second session, normally four hours and 40 minutes after the start of play (about 2.10pm on a 9.30am start in India).

Why is it called tea? It is the traditional name for the afternoon break, and the playing conditions still use it. The ICC’s rules only ever name two meal intervals, “lunch” and “tea”.

Has tea ever come before lunch? Yes. The Guwahati Test between India and South Africa in November 2025 was scheduled with tea at 11am and lunch at 1.20pm.

What happens if an innings ends just before tea? If it ends 30 minutes or less before the agreed time, tea starts straight away and the 10-minute change of innings is counted inside it.

More on how the format works: lunch in Test cricket, what stumps means, and Test cricket rules explained.

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Photo credit: Alamy