Cricket SA put an additional 3,000 tickets on sale, on top of the 1,500 already sold for Wednesday's ODI between SA and Bangladesh in Centurion, and fans filtering into SuperSport Park were soon creating a festive atmosphere.

CSA's increase in tickets for the series-deciding third ODI followed President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement on Tuesday night that the limits of 1,000 people for indoor gatherings and 2,000 outdoors had been lifted.

Professional sports events can now host crowds of 50% capacity of a venue, provided proof of vaccination or a Covid-19 test for spectators had been provided. 

As SuperSport Park fills up for the ODI, the crowd is expected to grow to the largest seen at any SA sports match since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic almost exactly two years ago.

Professional sport was initially shut down completely by the outbreak of Covid-19 in SA. Slowly major codes put forward their plans for return to play with strict measures and in the confines of carefully formulated biosecure environments.

The 2,000 restriction on crowds was a first step towards getting spectators back into sports stadiums. Now the 50%  capacity restriction will allow sport to operate live events with some form of profitability enabled.