Get ready for a series like no other: fiery bowlers, struggling batsmen and the strange world of biosecure bubbles

At 11am on Wednesday morning it would be apt if the English season was to face one more delay thanks to the light rain forecast to hit the Ageas Bowl.

But at some point the clouds will clear and either James Anderson or Kemar Roach will run in with the new ball and talk of biosecurity, Covid-19 and swab tests will be replaced by England’s quest to regain the Wisden Trophy.

The world has changed greatly since they last played Test cricket in Johannesburg on Jan 27 and after everything that has gone on in the meantime all will welcome worrying about more mundane matters such as batting collapses, England’s lack of an experienced spinner and just how will they one day replace Anderson?

The absence of crowds will add an extra layer of sterility to the biosecure bubble the England & Wales Cricket Board has created at the expense of several million pounds to ensure this series could become the first international team sport played since the global lockdown.

Both sides will wear the Black Lives Matter logo on their collars and England will make a ‘gesture’ of support before play, which in normal times would be an unusual stray into life beyond the boundary. It is still an important development given English cricket’s abandonment of the black population but it is just one of several factors that make this match a unique occasion.

This is the start of the #raisethebat series named to honour key workers (and a handy way to cover up the fact there is no Test match sponsor) while a minute’s silence will be held to remember the 44,000-plus British victims of coronavirus pandemic and also to pay tribute to the great Sir Everton Weekes.

Ben Stokes said all the right things in his pre-match press conference, exuding calm authority and respect. He thanked the hotel staff for looking after the players while adhering to strict biosecure rules and revealed Joe Root left a note pinned to his England blazer saying “do it your own way.” No need Joe. Stokes knows no other way.

At around 10.45am on Wednesday he will slip on that blazer for the toss with West Indies captain Jason Holder. The world’s top two ranked all-rounders will not shake hands or swap team sheets due to Covid-19 rules and will contest cricket’s first socially distanced toss.

Once that is all out of the way we will begin to find out whether the strange circumstances of this series will nullify home advantage that plays such a major role in Test cricket.

West Indies beat England in the Caribbean last year 2-1 and won a famous victory at Headingley on their last tour but their away record has been woeful during decades of decline. They have won just two Tests in England in 20 years and only 11 overseas in that period - seven of them against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe or Afghanistan.

England’s bowlers are all fit and refreshed. There is healthy competition for places and all go into this Test knowing they will be rotated during an eight-week spell that includes six Tests. They can give everything safe in the knowledge a rest is around the corner and face a West Indies line up that has only made 350 in the first innings of a Test 12 times in the last decade (and only twice since 2014).

This series promises to be a battle of seam bowling and with no weekend crowds to refund there should be no excuses for preparing flat pitches, especially with Covid-19 restrictions hampering bowling rather than batting.

West Indies are desperate to prove that a revival in Test cricket is stirring in the Caribbean, a hope fired by the emergence of a group of fast bowlers some compare to the greats of the past. Roach, Shannon Gabriel, Alzarri Joseph and Holder reduced their own batting line up to 49 for five last week and will relish bowling at England’s most inexperienced top four since Mike Atherton debuted in the fifth Test of the 1989 Ashes series.

The West Indies attack is led by Roach who has 193 Test wickets, 41 per cent of which are top-three batsmen. No current bowler is better at knocking over the top order.

He should be backed up by three more quick bowlers, with Joseph the final addition ahead of the spinner Rahkeem Cornwall. It is pace that will win this series, not spin in an English summer. West Indies bowl with the Dukes ball at home now too, and since the start of 2019 their pace attack has taken a wicket every seven overs at an average bettered only by India.

England’s recently rediscovered patience and discipline with the bat makes them better equipped to cope than their previous reliance on one-day batsmen and batting all-rounders. “We are building an identity as a Test team,” said Stokes.

Joe Denly is fortunate to be playing his 15th Test. At 34 and with Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence, and now James Bracey, longer-term top-three prospects, he has to make a big score here, if only to give himself the self belief he belongs at Test level after years on the county beat.

He played within himself in South Africa, knuckling down for the team, but perhaps he just needs to be a little more selfish and trust his natural instinct to play a few more shots. He has nothing to lose.

West Indies will rely heavily on the heroes of Headingley three years ago: Kraigg Brathwaite and Shai Hope. Both have failed to live up to those standards since, with one-day cricket affecting Hope’s Test batting. The weight of West Indies runs could in the end be scored further down the order from Roston Chase, Shane Dowrich and Holder, who were so instrumental in the last series win. The worry for West Indies is that Holder has scored only seven runs in three innings on this tour.

Before coronavirus, England had carefully plotted a path to the next Ashes, charting out each series as a progression along the way. This one has taken longer than expected to happen but at least it is taking place at all and for many that will matter more than the result.