Security concerns dog England's tour of India

By Ted Corbett

LONDON, OCT. 13. Even though there has been no dialogue between the England and Indian boards about the possibility that the tour of the sub-continent, due to begin next month, may have to be called off because of the political climate it became clear on Saturday that England was already making provisional plans to cover a cancellation.

It was also evident that the players would want to have a say in whether the tour went ahead and Nasser Hussain, the captain, has asked the England and Wales Cricket Board for an early decision. The tour which contains the Test series is due to begin on November 13. England returns from its trip on Sunday when the one-day squads for the second part of the India tour and the visit to New Zealand will be announced. Hussain expects to discuss the Test tour of India with ECB officials when he goes to Lord's for the announcement of the one-day squad.

Hussain said, ``you cannot leave it until the last week or two to decide whether you are going. The administrators and the players will all have to sit down together and ask `Are we 100 per cent certain that it is safe to go.'' Apparently, the fact that two Tests are played in Mohali and Ahmedabad - perceived to be too close to the action in Afghanistan for comfort - is uppermost in the England players' minds. ``We shall listen to advice from the Foreign Office,'' a senior ECB figure said.

Now attention turns to the ICC meeting when Tim Lamb, chief executive of the ECB and the new president of the Indian board Jagmohan Dalmiya will discuss the tour. Dalmiya has said that as far as he is concerned the tour is still on and Lamb has said there have been no talks with the Indian board that suggest it may be cancelled. If the trip has to be put off ECB may take the opportunity to practice its one-day skills ahead of the 2003 World Cup in a tournament either in Sharjah or Sri Lanka.

This uncertainty adds spice to the party to be chosen for the tour which includes five one-day games at the end of January. Will England bring back Darren Gough who said he did not want to play any cricket until after Christmas? Will it continue to support James Kirtley, the Sussex quick bowler who has been reported for a suspect action?

Now that Alec Stewart has revealed that he is about to have an operation on the right elbow which has given him so much trouble in the last few years there is no possibility of bringing him back until next summer - when he will have to fight for his place once again - but James Foster, a 21-year-old Essex keeper and Durham University undergraduate, will be able to tell how his performances in Zimbabwe have been rated.

The selectors may decide to leave him out of the one- day squad for the 10 one-dayers - in India and New Zealand - either to give him a rest or because they are unhappy with either his work behind the stumps or his argument with Andy Flower which led to a reprimand from the match referee in only his third international.

A likely squad: N. Hussain (captain), M. Trescothick, N. Knight, M. Ramprakash, G. Thorpe, O. Shah, P. Collingwood, A. Flintoff, C. White, B. Hollioake, D. Gough, M. Hoggard, C. Silverwood, J. Kirtley, J. Snape, P. Grayson.

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