England and West Indies today pick up the pieces left behind 33 days ago at Lord's when a wild-eyed Dominic Cork hit the runs that squared the series.
The gap, with the subsequent loss of momentum, means in effect that the teams are contesting a new, three-match series, and it has captured the Lancashire public's imagination so much that more people apparently turned up down the road on Tuesday to buy the new Manchester United strip than have pre-booked tickets for the first day.
However, public indifference cannot take the gloss off the achievement of Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart in reaching 100 Tests. Sometime over the next few days, in what England hope will be a seamless transition from the old order to the new, Atherton will walk out to open with the debutante Marcus Trescothick, the burly Somerset lefthander who will become his 13th opening partner. Unlucky for some.
Trescothick, identified only last year by the England coach Duncan Fletcher as a batsman of potential, showed during the recent triangular one-day tournament that he has a sound temperament and a technique which is both solid and robust.
After much searching, England feel they have found someone to carry on the torch. All he has to do now is succeed against two of the most prolific pace bowlers of all-time, and the chances of him doing so in this match are - if the history books have any relevance - virtually non-existent.
Only six batsmen have made a century against West Indies in their first Test, and only two openers: the South African Andrew Hudson and England's Billy Griffith, actually a wicket-keeper, who was picked to open the batting because of injuries. So far, so bad.
No one is under any illusion that it will be easy. Trescothick's one-day successes served notice of a talent but, in the context of what is to come, little else. There was no constant ring of slips, no Ambrose, no Walsh and no chin-music. It will not be so comfortable here with Ambrose, in particular, bowling the tightest of lines and giving him little to drive.
In Trescothick's favour, however, is the full face of the bat he presents to the bowler - he is not one for instinctive and destructive angles to third man - and his ability to play the line and not follow the moving ball.
Just as it was to his advantage to have Stewart with him in the one-dayers, so it will be to have Atherton in the Test.
"It is ideal," captain Nasser Hussain said. "It couldn't be better. He will learn a lot, even just sitting around watching Atherton prepare."
The captain was giving no clues yesterday as to the composition of the side or the batting order, except that the final place will be between a batsman - probably Graeme Hick - and the frontline spinner Robert Croft.
West Indies have injury problems, with the exciting 20-year-old left-hander Ramnaresh Sarwan coming in for his third Test instead of Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Despite concerns over the paceman Franklyn Rose and star batsman Brian Lara, who is nursing a hamstring strain, both were included in the XI announced last night.
England (from): Hussain (capt), Atherton, Trescothick, Vaughan, Stewart (wkt), Hick, Thorpe, White, Croft, Cork, Caddick, Gough.
West Indies: Adams (capt), Campbell, Griffith, Hinds, Lara, Sarwan, Jacobs (wkt), Ambrose, Rose, King, Walsh.
Umpires: D B Cowie, P Willey, K E Palmer.
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