Antigua Recreation Ground is one of cricket’s great venues – and it is making a comeback

Hosting Test cricket is unlikely because ICC rules now demand runoffs behind the advertising boards for health and safety reasons and there is just not enough space to expand the tiny site due to the surrounding streets, including the colonial-era prison still in use today and where Richards’s father was once an officer. But with white-ball cricket using smaller boundaries, Matthew is hopeful the West Indies will play there again, attracting people to watch at a ground more convenient for the fans.

The current World Cup has helped with a spruce up, and a chance to make public the plans for making the ARG usable again. “You have to make a decision to come here,” he says pointing at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. “With the Antigua Rec you can go on your lunch break. It has floodlights, there is seating for about 4-5,000 spectators and the field is in good condition, it drains well. It is just a facelift and cosmetic work.”

But will it remain a graveyard for bowlers? “Nobody wants to see a bowler dehumanised,” says Matthew. Some ex-England players would say that is 40 years overdue.