International sport will finally return in Britain on Wednesday, when England take on West Indies in the world's first cricket test match since mid-March owing to coronavirus pandemic.
It's clear the match being staged at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton is about much more than just cricket.
A smoothly run test series, played in a strictly isolated environment featuring repeated Covid-19 testing and social distancing, can not only lay the blueprint for future matches and tours in cricket, but also events in other sports targeting a resumption.
"If you get one thing wrong, it might blow this whole 'getting sport back onto the radar' further back," England stand-in captain Ben Stokes said on Tuesday ahead of Eng vs WI 1st Test match in a news conference.
Stokes also spoke about the responsibility on the team's shoulders to deliver a massive occasion for TV viewers who have been without international cricket for four months.
“I know everyone has been craving this from a player's point of view, he said, but also I think from a spectator's and fan's point of view. And then there's the message England and the West Indies players want to send about equality in sport and society in general in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement,” England stand-in captain said.
Cricket's oldest format kicks off a very new era for the sport. Here’s how viewing experience will change during the England vs Wes Indies Test series in times of the coronavirus:
There will be no spectators at matches, one-way systems inside venues to maintain distancing, twice-weekly testing for coronavirus, and players will not be allowed out of their hotels.
Players from the two teams will come into vaguely close contact with each other only on the field of play as they remain in bio-secure environment till the match resumes.
What is bio secure environment or bio bubble in cricket?
A bio-secure environment is planned to prevent the spread of coronavirus. With bio-secure venues for cricket matches, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is aiming to minimise the risk of transmission of the virus from one person to another.
How players remained in bio-secure environment?
The West Indies squad has been in UK since June 9 in order that the players could first quarantine at Manchester's Old Trafford ground and then practise there in lockdown conditions. They had two intra-squad matches England has had only one before the squad travelled to Southampton for the match.
How TV viewing experience will change?
Both the teams to don ‘Black Live Matters’ logo on their jersies
A ‘Black Live Matters’ logo will be on the collar of the test shirts worn by players from both teams and there is set to be a gesture made by the teams before the game. West Indies players have said the movement is a source of motivation on this tour.
The West Indies has not won a test series in England since 1988, but the team is the holder of the Wisden Trophy after a 2-1 victory in the Caribbean last year.
ICC has recommended the appointment of a chief medical or a bio-safety officer to ensure all the respective government guidelines are followed as players return to training.