Bring on the first ball of the first morning of the first cricket test between New Zealand and the West Indies on Thursday.
The match, at the charming and picturesque University Oval in Dunedin, promises much as a sporting and community occasion.
While the city has suffered setbacks as a premier national sporting venue - the possibility of A-grade rugby tests being played here is unlikely, most of the best southern netball is in Invercargill and the Nuggets' long-term future in the national basketball league is doubtful - the outlook for cricket tests shines brightly.
Although the shortness of the straight-hit boundaries remains a concern - the former art gallery does need to be truncated to make more room - the University Oval provides a near perfect test-match setting.
Spectators have the choice of grassy banks or the historic red-roofed Otago Daily Times grandstand.
Players have adequate facilities and the view down the pitch from the media box is unbeatable.
The modest capacity, only a few thousand, is ideal for modern test cricket in New Zealand because a cosy, colourful crowd makes for a warm positive atmosphere both in the ground and, crucially, for television audiences.
The contrast to scattered people thinly spread across the concrete grandstands of joint rugby/cricket stadiums is marked.
The weather and pitch conditions, cricket's two big imponderables, always hang like a cloud over cricket, but were close to ideal for the Bangladesh test in early January.
Dunedin and the South supported that match in numbers and enthusiasm beyond what might have been expected from most other centres and has the chance to do so again.
This time it is against a higher ranked team which, with the likes of 2008 International Cricket Council cricketer Shivnarine Chanderpaul, captain Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, includes prominent and respected figures in the cricketing world.
The match represents the opportunity for a fresh start for the Black Caps with a new coach and after the disappointments of the Australian tour.
Although few expected much from one of New Zealand's weakest teams in decades, the capitulations were dismal. The natural imbalance of a cricket test against our transtasman neighbours might be compared with the All Blacks playing Scotland or Ireland.
While a victory is improbable, at least lengthier periods of competitiveness and more fighting spirit are expected.
Test cricket remains the ultimate for those steeped in the sport. Extraordinarily, especially in this era of instant gratification, games stretch over five days.
It thus requires sustained skill and concentration from the players, session after session after session. For spectators, meanwhile, the contest ebbs and flows with performance and possibility.
There is always the chance of a clatter of wickets or a large stand as circumstances constantly adjust. Unlike the frenzy of 20/twenty, the crowd has the chance to savour the contest, to be poised between relaxation and tension, to enjoy the extended company of friends and take time out from the cares of the world.
Test cricket can also be relished as a surviving relic of another age.
The ball is still red and the players in whites, apart from the fielding grass stains and the smudges from polishing the ball.
The brown of the pitch and the carpet of green outfield continue a theme of relative restraint compared with the razzmatazz of one-day cricket or most other contemporary elite sport.
At the same time, innovations are bringing parts of classic cricket up-to-date.
The use in New Zealand test cricket for the first time of the appeal-against-the-umpire system adds an intriguing element.
Dunedin, from the very first ball on Thursday, has the opportunity to show to itself and New Zealand that the University Oval ranks as one of this country's best test cricketing venues.
If this promise is fulfilled, the people of the South should be given the chance for many years to come to enjoy some of the best the cricketing world can offer.
Let's make the most of it.
