Start the day as you mean to bat

Club cricket has a habit of punishing good intentions. You roll up at half nine with a coffee and a slice of toast, field for forty overs in the sun, and by the time you're padded up at five o'clock your legs have gone and your concentration with them. The fix isn't complicated, but it does start earlier than most players think.

If you're playing a 1pm start, treat breakfast as the first part of your warm-up. Something slow-release and familiar: porridge made with milk and topped with banana and a spoon of honey, or two slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter and a boiled egg. If you struggle to eat early, overnight oats prepared the night before are easy to grab and gentle on the stomach.

The golden rule is nothing new on match day. Save the experimental smoothie for a Tuesday net. Your gut has enough to deal with when you're nervous about a top-order collapse without unfamiliar food thrown into the mix.

The two hours before the first ball

Aim for a proper meal about three hours before play, then a light top-up roughly an hour out. The main meal should be built around carbohydrates you digest easily, with a moderate amount of protein and very little fat or spice. Think:

• Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn, light on the butter
• Pasta with a tomato-based sauce and a little chicken or grated cheese
• Rice with grilled chicken or fish and some cooked vegetables
• A big sandwich on wholemeal bread — ham, chicken or cheese and pickle — plus a banana

An hour before the toss, keep it small: a banana, a handful of dates, a slice of fruit loaf, or a couple of oatcakes. This is not the moment for a fry-up, however strong the pavilion tradition. Fat and heavy protein sit in the stomach for hours, and you'll feel it when you're chasing one to the boundary at deep midwicket.

Fuelling a long afternoon in the field

Fielding is stop-start work, but forty or fifty overs in the field adds up. Most club players vastly under-eat during an innings and then wonder why their throw drops short in the thirty-fifth over. You want roughly 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate for every hour you're out there, and it needs to be portable.

Keep a small bag in the changing room or by the boundary edge with things that survive a warm afternoon:

• Bananas and easy-peel oranges
• Flapjack cut into squares, or fruit loaf slices
• Jelly babies or wine gums for a quick lift at drinks
• A few salted nuts or oatcakes if you've been sweating heavily

Use the drinks breaks properly. Nibble something at each one rather than waiting until you feel flat, because by then you're already behind. If you're batting, have someone bring a drink and a couple of jelly babies out at the fall of a wicket or at the mid-innings drinks — a small, quick source of energy between overs can be the difference between pushing on and holing out.

Hydration: boring, but it wins matches

You can lose well over a litre of fluid on a warm July afternoon, and mild dehydration shows up first as poor decision-making, not thirst. Start the day well hydrated, then sip steadily rather than gulping a pint at once. Around 400 to 600ml per hour in the field is a sensible target, more in real heat.

Water is fine for most club games. For anything long or particularly hot, dilute squash with a small pinch of salt works as well as anything you can buy, and it's cheap enough to make up in a big bottle for the whole team. Tea and coffee count towards fluids but don't overdo the caffeine before you bat. And the pint at tea is best saved for after the last ball — alcohol slows rehydration and makes the final session feel twice as long.

Tea interval: enjoy it, but with a plan

Tea is one of the great pleasures of village cricket, and nobody sensible is going to tell you to skip the sausage roll. The trick is portion control and timing. If you're batting after tea, keep the plate light: a sandwich or two, some fruit, a slice of cake, and a cup of tea. If you've just been dismissed and you're fielding for the rest of the day, you can afford to eat more, but still build around bread, potatoes and fruit rather than three slices of Victoria sponge.

Watch the clock. If you're due in soon after the interval, eat early in the break and give yourself ten minutes to settle. Players who demolish a full tea and then strap on the pads five minutes later invariably feel heavy for the first ten overs, which is exactly when the new ball is doing the most.

Recovery, and doing it again on Sunday

If you've got a second XI game the next day, or nets on Tuesday, recovery starts in the car park. Within an hour of finishing, get some fluid, some carbohydrate and 20 to 30 grams of protein into you — a chicken or tuna sandwich, a bowl of pasta, or a pint of milk with a banana all do the job.

The post-match pint and chips is a fine tradition and not something to feel guilty about, but add a glass of water alongside it, especially before the drive home. Stretch, eat properly that evening, sleep well, and Monday morning won't feel like you've been run over. Do the simple things consistently and you'll still be moving well in the field at six o'clock, when the game is usually decided.