Twitter Reactions: Fraternity and fans welcome back cricket amidst rain as England make steady start

117 days! The first ball in international cricket was bowled after a gap of 117 days as England and West Indies took the field with a solidarity message (Black Lives Matter). It was all new with the team huddles being formed maintaining the social distancing while the toss took place without a presenter. Rather the two captains almost shook hands out of habit only to realise later that they should fist bump.

All the formalities were done but how prior to that an uninvited but a familiar guest made his presence felt as well. It was all gloomy for the first couple of hours in Southampton as it continued to rain and the play only started after lunch with England winning the toss and opting to bat first. And it wasn’t long until the hosts’ travails at the top of the order came to the fore.

After Kemar Roach’s decent start, Shannon Gabriel castled Dom Sibley in his very first over for a duck. The outside off-stump delivery nipped back in enough to brush the stick even as the batsman shouldered arms. However, the success proved to be the only breakthrough for the visitors.

Joe Denly and Rory Burns work hard for runs

Joe Denly and Rory Burns then had to suffer more due to the frequent start and stops thanks to rain. But they were good enough to weather the four-man Caribbean pace attack. Alzarri Joseph didn’t seem to be at his best as runs came a bit easily after he was introduced. Burns and Denly also played some delightful strokes as the world cherished the return of the sport after a long time.

Alas! the conditions had its say with the light deteriorating very fast and an early tea was taken with only 17.4 overs bowled only for the play to not start again. England were 35/1 then with Burns on 20 and his partner Denly looking strong on 14. The fans and the teams both will be hopeful of a better weather on the second day as the match is expected to move on.

Apart from all the action and the BLM movement, Stuart Broad not playing this match was another talking point. He was left out in favour of Mark Wood as England decided to go in with extra pace. The fraternity was finally delighted to see some live cricket and enjoyed the action albeit only for 17.4 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Cricket is back 😃Positive scenes coming out from UK. So good to finally see some cricket being played. Wishing both teams the best. Can’t wait to be out there myself 🤞 #EngVsWI

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) July 8, 2020

Cricket is on the mark… #ENGvWI #welldone #COVID19

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 8, 2020

Cricket is back! BOOOOM! Great work everyone at @englandcricket 👏🏼 #RaiseTheBat #ENGvWI

— Danielle Wyatt (@Danni_Wyatt) July 8, 2020

Great to see the game is back 👍👍 https://t.co/NtI0SVTJXP

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 8, 2020

The return of Test cricket after 117 days has been delayed by weather….😢😢 neway it's good to see some things back to normal… still waiting front of Tv to watch exiting Test match in @RoseBowlStadium #ENGvsWI 🏏

— 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒏𝒂 (@IamDimuth) July 8, 2020

A moment of silence before the Test to pay tribute to Windies legend Sir Everton Weekes and those who have lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/U7ZzP400Oi

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) July 8, 2020

#ENGvWI
This is me waiting for the match to start. pic.twitter.com/WIpjuGnGWM

— Ritviz Tweeps⚡🚴 (@eklauta_) July 8, 2020

How good is it to have Test cricket back! #ENGvWI

— Ricky Ponting AO (@RickyPonting) July 8, 2020

No Stuart Broad !?? Is that a case of Mark Wood is fit so use him while you can?

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) July 8, 2020

Here we are, supposedly,the worlds most passionate cricket nation, but seemingly unmoved by not been shown the historic WIEng series on any local tv sports channel.👍 Welcome to cricket lockdown!

— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) July 8, 2020

So nice to see that cricket is back!
Good luck to both the teams!
Can’t wait to get back on the field again#ENGvWI

— Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) July 8, 2020

“Whatever happens from here on in, cricket will be the winner”
The above statement has been used so many times in the past, today is one day where it will fit in perfectly. Good luck to both the teams. 👍🏻👍🏻 #cricketisback #ENGvsWI

— Ashwin (During Covid 19)🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) July 8, 2020

Finally, good to see Test cricket is back. Live and truly alive! Never watched ball by ball action of non-india matches but this is a historic match. Will be watching as much as I can 😁 #ENGvWI #EngvsWI pic.twitter.com/kyVnLkz8CY

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) July 8, 2020