Explained: Why Test shirts will look different in 2020

When Test cricket resumes next week, the absence of crowds and high fives won't be the only noticeable difference.

Last month, the International Cricket Council approved a handful of interim measures to help the sport resume during the COVID-19 pandemic, with non-neutral umpires to return and the use of saliva to polish the ball no longer permitted.

Another change will be far more conspicuous to the average fan, with sponsor's logos on Test shirts to be more prominent than ever before.

As cricket boards around the world struggle with a drop in commercial revenue due to the pandemic, the ICC has given nations scope to recoup some losses by allowing – for the next 12 months – a 32 square inch sponsor's logo to feature on the chest of Test shirts and sweaters.

The change came after a request from one Test-playing nation and was approved by the other members.

While prominent sponsor's logos have been commonplace in limited-overs cricket for decades, Test shirts and sweaters have hitherto been 'clean', with only smaller logos – no bigger than 10 square inches – permitted on the breast and the sleeve.

England and the West Indies have taken up the opportunity, with both sides to wear Test shirts next week with the logo of their major sponsor emblazoned across the front, while the Windies' sponsor will also feature prominently on their sweaters (the sweaters worn during England's intra-squad match this week do not have a sponsor's logo).

This is in addition to the player names and numbers that were controversially introduced to the back of shirts by the ICC last year as part of the introduction of the World Test Championship.

Australia's Test side won't be in action until they face India this summer and it's yet to be determined if a commercial partner's logo will feature more prominently on their shirts.

Speaking to Nine Media last month, former Cricket Australia executive and commercial boss at the National Rugby League, Michael Brown, said giving sponsors greater prominence made sense during this time.

"You've actually got to move to support the teams," he said. "It costs them a lot of money to put the games on. Providing it's done in a professional way, and it's not slap dash and it's not a ridiculous number of logos all over the place, I think it can be done well.

"Whether it's 12 months or longer, sports are suffering like everyone else in the community and if this can help the sport, that's got to be a good thing."

There will also be a smaller tweak to the England and West Indies shirts next week, with both sides moving to have the 'Black Lives Matter' logo added to the collar.

Acknowledgement of a charity or social issue has been permitted on the collars of Test shirts for some time; Australia's players had the Walkabout Wickets Indigenous artwork on their collars during the Ashes last year, while they added the Ruth Strauss Foundation symbol to the collar for the Lord's Test and the McGrath Foundation logo for the annual Pink Test in Sydney.

The first Test between England and the West Indies starts on Wednesday.