“We can stagger people’s entrances. We’ve split Edgbaston into three segments now with three separate entrances. We can bring people in in a controlled manner in an hour or so.
“We’ve got contactless payments. We’ve built an app that allows people to get food and drink to their seats so people haven’t got to stand in a crush at bars.
“We could do rapid testing. We could build a centre on the car park like we did with the testing centre last year.
“They’re talking about a 10-minute test. We could do that. We could build a second perimeter if we decide to go down the vaccine passport route.”
Cain still broadly welcomed the prospect of national lockdown measures being lifted and said that the announcement gave “much welcomed clarity on the way forward”, both for cricket and Edgbaston’s conference business.
“It means that limited crowds can start enjoying cricket from May with a full return in June,” he added.
“However, if people can shop at the Bullring and Alton Towers can accommodate thrill-seekers from 12 April, why could we not stage spectator pilots at our County Championship matches at Edgbaston?
“This would help the wider professional sports industry to be equipped for welcoming more spectators in the following months.
“In early to mid-June we could then work with the government to host increased capacity pilots at the Test matches between England and New Zealand, at Lord’s and Edgbaston.
“It is a big leap to go from 25% to 100% capacity, without pilots in between, to make sure that sport is operationally ready for large crowds.”