ENGLAND have been offered a revised schedule for their suspended tour of India as talks on security continue.
Top English cricket officials were engaged in discussions throughout yesterday after the Board of Control for Cricket in India offered Chennai and Mohali as the two new Test venues. The England and Wales Cricket Board hierarchy have been in dialogue
with various security agencies, both in India and the UK, as well as digesting the advice of their own people.
The BCCI have now proposed that the first Test, which was scheduled for Ahmedabad between 11-15 December, will now be moved to Chennai, while Mohali will host the second from 19-23 December.
The two-match series was originally planned to begin in Ahmedabad and conclude in Mumbai. The second venue was initially changed to Chennai following the terror attacks on Mumbai last week, but now there has been another shift to ease safety fears. Ahmedabad was the scene of numerous bomb blasts earlier this year and is relatively close to Mumbai.
The new schedule would send England – should they agree to return – to opposite ends of the country.
Significantly, Australia recently played a Test in Mohali, just outside Chandigarh, last month and England's security advisor Reg Dickason's company also provides advice for the Aussies, so plans and procedures will be at hand. England have played Tests in Mohali on each of their previous two Test tours, losing both, their only defeats in six outings.
Chennai was due to host Champions League matches this week, so security arrangements were already in place.
The ECB will not be rushed into a decision, however, and want to collate all the evidence and recommendations on safety and security before making any decision on a resumption of the tour.
The Professional Cricketers' Association have also been involved in the dialogue and those in charge of decision-making within English cricket want to be satisfied that any proposed security arrangements are adequate.
England's players returned from the sub-continent on Saturday after the final two one-day internationals were scrapped.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office were consulted by the ECB yesterday, but any decision on whether to travel will be solely down to the assessment of those at Lord's.
Current FCO website advice to British citizens is to avoid all but essential travel to Mumbai and to "take care" to be extra vigilant in their movements elsewhere in India.
Meanwhile, England will await the findings of Dickason before deciding on whether to resume their tour. The Australian will fly to Chennai today.
Even if the ECB agree to resume the trip to the subcontinent it does not necessarily mean the same 15 players will return and national selector Geoff Miller yesterday admitted no-one should agree to resume their tour of India if they "have a sense of fear." Miller spent the day liaising with officials from the ECB.
Since their return there has been speculation about whether both Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison would return. Asked if he would go if he was still a player, former Derbyshire off-spinner Miller said: "Yes, I think I would go if I got clearance on security. From an England point of view representing your country is very, very big, so if you've got a clearance from security of being looked after then yes, I would.
"But the focus is on playing cricket so you've got to make sure you are fully focused on that job and not being sidetracked by other issues, and that's pretty difficult. I fully understand that."
