That drinks break really flew by © Getty Images

No sport takes as many breaks as cricket does - though no other sport also runs the gamut between three hours and five days of play. Players' lunch and tea breaks we're not privy to, but the drinks break is a spectator sport. In the photo above, at the 1998 Bangalore Test, drinks are delivered to the ground via an airplane? A fighter jet? A space shuttle?

Everyone remembers Jason Gillespie's Happy Gilmore celebration, but have you seen his other Adam Sandler impression, from The Waterboy?

Gillespie signals for water - or possibly a beer - after getting Mohammad Ashraful out in the first Test in Bangladesh in 2006 Hamish Blair / © Getty Images

Now in the days of T20 matches and slow-over-rate penalties, the drinks cart has been eschewed for a lower-budget option - get the 12th man and reserve players to make themselves useful by running drinks and towels.

The real reason England have tall fast bowlers? Saves on umbrella-hire expenses on warm days.

Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes' 12th-man duties involve running drinks and keeping paparazzi away Stu Forster / © Getty Images

The players get all the umbrellas and table service, massages and chat at drinks, but won't someone think of the poor, unloved umpires?

Field in the slips? Nah, Asad Rauf would rather sleep in the field Mark Kolbe / © Getty Images

That little break also allows players to briefly let their hair down, take their clothes off, casually flex for the opposition and get in their heads...

Water body: Sri Lanka players get an eyeful of a shirtless Matthew Wade in the drinks break © Associated Press

Sometimes the drink is dropped to you, other times you're dropped in the drink. Fading light, rain interruptions and drinks delivered from the sky - the 2007 World Cup final had it all.

Cry me a shower: a picture that perfectly captures the farce of the 2007 World Cup final © Getty Images

At the Boxing Day Test in 2022, Anrich Nortje had already endeared himself to the crowds when he got knocked over by a speeding Spidercam. But he really became a fan favourite when they got him to chug an entire bottle of water in under 15 seconds. Bay 13 at the MCG is all about the simple joys.

Chug life: Anrich Nortje skulls his drink © Getty Images

And you don't even have to be playing for the public to get involved. In the photo below, Graham Gooch finds that even his hydration routine draws a crowd in Faridabad.

Drinking games: Gooch's press call becomes a public fountain © Getty Images

Back in the old days, you had to sling drinks even if you weren't 12th man. Geoffrey Boycott retired hurt after he collided with Deryck Murray during the second Test of West Indies' tour of England in 1973. Rather than sit in the dressing room with his feet up, Boycott chose to ferry refreshments to his team-mates in the breaks.

Boycott and Maurice Forster find themselves on drinks and towel duty © PA Photos/Getty Images

Fancy sports drinks are all very well, but can any of them rival the humble, sustainable, drink-and-a-snack coconut in its eco-friendly packaging? In the photo below, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul do their bit for the environment.

Kohli and Rahul prepare to drink and drive Munir Uz Zaman / © AFP/Getty Images

Cricket is thirsty work and sometimes those tiny bottles of water just don't cut it.

Real hydro homies know your eight glasses a day is laughably litttle © AFP/Getty Images

Deepti Unni is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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