Cricket and its fans finally return home

The morning of the first Test of the English cricketing summer is always an occasion to be cherished, but, as Vithushan Ehantharajah writes, this one felt even more special

Spectators returned to Lord’s on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)

If you get to Lord’s via St John’s Wood station, you’ll know about the wind tunnel.

As you reach the top of the escalators that take you from Jubilee Line to ground level, you’ve got about 20 yards to brace yourself before it hits you. Maybe it’s because the entrance is positioned at 45 degrees on the corner of the road creating a funnel effect, but few stations create a maelstrom that slaps you in the face, ruffles your hair, turns ties to kites and throws punters out onto the road like this one. A welcome, in its own way, to a day’s play at Lord’s.

On Wednesday, however, it felt more welcoming. The removals of masks and the sudden gush of fresh air felt like a healthy kiss. The ushering of bodies into the sunlight more a hearty pat on the back. Given it had been almost two years since Lord’s had hosted international cricket, the welcome felt justified.

It’s easy to get wistful about Lord’s. The history, moments, the colours, the punters paying through the nose for the honour of watching it on a delay sipping bubbles on the Nursery Ground. Everything about it hints at privilege: both being here and being able to be here.

But it’s perhaps the great misunderstanding of “privilege”that recognising it and enjoying it are mutually exclusive. Because, really, to be at Lord’s for the start of the Test summer after a season played out in such sanitised and stale conditions, required both acknowledgements of good fortune to be one of the 6,700 who got lucky with tickets and excitement to be able to immerse yourself in age-old tradition.

The concourse was relatively sparse, but still buzzing. The MCC’s colours visible around mouths as the real keenos flashed their “bacon and egg” facemasks. Queues for the bars were just as long but half as crowded. The famous hum of this ground still held, even at a few decibels lower. “New normal”, perhaps, but certainly more normal.

There was nothing special to note when the cricket did get underway. Kane Williamson called correctly and decided the best thing for New Zealand to do was to bat first on a gloriously sunny day. And that decision was vindicated when he walked off for lunch with 13 to his name and opener Devon Conway (43 not out) by his side. They had reached a healthy 85 for one after a controlled 25 overs's play.

In a way, a solitary wicket might have suited those at the ground just fine. Just as James Anderson and Stuart Broad took time to get into their work, they too might have needed an hour or so to calibrate. The dismissal, when it came, would go to debutant Ollie Robinson, as he beat Tom Latham on the inside edge to force the left-hander to play onto his own stumps. The bowler's yelp joined the chorus of "ooooooh" that greet wickets here. The shock of the moment captured ahead of the applause that follows close by.

The reactions will be different at Edgbaston next week for that first dismissal, where the roars from a younger, more vibrant crowd. In that regard, Lord's is not unique. Each ground has their own characteristics, their own feel and their own history. And that is probably the most heartening thing. This feeling those at Lord's are experiencing right now, of joy and relief swirling together and washing over every individual will be replicated many more times this summer.