West Indies v England, 3rd Test, Antigua

England like to warm up before play with a game of football, but on Sunday they will go one stage further as they start a Test match on a football pitch. The centre circle runs through the Antigua Recreation Ground pitch that has been hurriedly prepared following the abandonment at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium but, as with the old stands, manual scoreboard and cramped facilities, everyone has worked overtime to ensure the show can go on. The grand old girl is coming back to life. The ARG last hosted a Test in 2006 before being mothballed by the pressures of World Cup development, but is now trying to complete a remarkable transformation from a ramshackle relic to a Test arena for the most belated of encore performances. It has been a mammoth task. Since yesterday's decision to abandon the second Test there has been a round-the-clock operation to try and get Antigua's former international venue back up to standard. Some people were up all night. The outfield, which in parts remained far from ideal, was watered by the fire brigade, the pitch tended by the groundsman. On Saturday morning the ground resembled a scene from one of those reality TV shows where they set a challenge to rebuild something in a day. Construction teams have worked overtime, the painters were whitewashing the stands (you had to be careful what you leant on) and the TV crews rigged their equipment. Empty beer bottles were cleared away, trees had to be chopped down to create access and an army of people cleaned the ground. Temporary sightscreens were built from scratch and the scoreboard operator painted the player names. But with less than 48 hours to turn what was, in certain sections, a crumbling stadium into something that can handle two international teams, 6,000 England fans, the local support and the media means that this remains one of the most patched-up Test venues in recent memory. Still, less than a day after the abandonment there was a positive vibe in Antigua. "This is going to be brilliant," one WICB worker told Cricinfo. "The atmosphere is going to be like the old days. The infrastructure was already here, we are just adding the finishing touches." Finishing touches was probably underplaying it slightly. The wicket that will be used is the one produced for the team's practice sessions prior to the second Test. The England players said the pitch had been quite spicy in training, and the bowlers were rarely going at full pelt against their own batsmen. Suffice to say we won't see any batting world records this time, but to even make it playable has been a handsome feat. And once again much attention will be on the outfield, which is uneven and patchy, especially on the edges of what has been the football pitch. It will be like a trip back to club days for all the players.