60,000 pints of beer, 12,000 bottles of champagne washed down during Lord`s Test!

London: A reported 60,000 pints of beer and cider and 12,000 bottles of champagne will be consumed by spectators over the five days of the second Ashes Test at Lord`s, and the amount is expected to boost takings from a Test likely to bring in ten million pounds in gate receipts alone.

London makes an effortless slide from Andy Murrays` Wimbledon triumph to the Ashes Test at Lord`s, which comes accompanied with an array of catering options from pints of lager at 4.20 pounds to Jamie Oliver luxury hampers at 150 pounds. A report said that the revenue is necessary to redevelop the home of cricket, especially as tea breaks at Lord`s are helter-skelter spells of consumption. A Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) spokesman said that sales figures reflect the weather-cold lager and cider are up and hot drinks and bitter are down compared with the New Zealand Test in May. According to the report, due to the heavy crush, spectators are advised to avoid lunch and tea when visiting the food village in Lord`s, which has handed its catering contract to Jamie Oliver, whose fare made its debut at the New Zealand Test. Meanwhile, the report said that MCC chief executive Derek Brewer had unveiled a 200 million-pound revamp of Lord`s, to be started from 2014, which is a modified version of earlier controversial plans that included a now discarded scheme for new residential properties. Under the new plans, pinch points around the ground will be revamped to ease congestion and a new `Food Street` catering area will be created, and the report said that the capacity will also be increased to 32,000. However, catering in the hospitality boxes is handled by the MCC`s inhouse caterers rather than Oliver, whose basic hamper costs 77 pounds with a luxury version available at 150 pounds, the report added. ANI