FORMER England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Lord MacLaurin believes the decision to suspend the tour of India was correct – and does not think the England team should return.
Although the two-Test series is still scheduled to go ahead, England's squad will arrive back home today and it is not certain when or if they will return.
Board of Control for Cricket in India vice-president Lalit Modi insisted on Thursday that t
he matches would take place – the first on 11 December in Ahmedabad and the second in Chennai – following the terror attacks in Mumbai. England were due to finish their seven-week trip in the west coast city but Indian officials shifted the match hours after the shocking news.
With the final two limited-overs matches already scrapped, they will now spend the next few days with their families at home, with captain Kevin Pietersen saying yesterday that none of his players would be forced back.
"It was absolutely the right decision to come home," said MacLaurin, who was chairman of the English board back in 2001 when Robert Croft and Andrew Caddick pulled out of the tour of India with security fears post-September 11.
"The England cricket team are very high-profile individuals. If these fanatics are going to target people then the England cricket side could be a very big target for them," MacLaurin added.
"My own view is that I would be very, very surprised if the security people will give them the okay to go back.
"For myself, I don't think they should go back. I think it's sad for cricket but the safety of our players is absolutely paramount and I am sure that the ECB will take the same view."
England yesterday left their base in Bhubaneswar for Bangalore, from where they will fly to London. On his departure, Pietersen admitted the future of the tour had still to be resolved.
"I haven't a clue (whether we'll come back] and we'll have to get all the logistic stuff sorted first, but the decision to go back to London will buy us some time and if we need to fly back to India on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday next week then so be it," he said.
"Right now, all we want to do is go home because of what we've seen, and the fact we've woken up this morning and the saga is still going in Mumbai.
"The guys were happy as anything in Mumbai in the two weeks we were there. The way of life in Mumbai is fantastic and that way of life, which is the best way of life in India, has now gone.
"I bet all the guys lost a whole battery on their mobiles yesterday with calls from friends and relatives and kids wanting to know where daddy is. It's a real situation and we're being taken out of the situation and we'll make a decision on it over the next 48 to 72 hours."
Before then, assurances on the team's security will have to be given and England have instructed security advisor Reg Dickason to assess the situation.
But with lucrative television contracts tied into the Test series, Pietersen expects pressure to be applied by the BCCI for England to return. "It will be a security decision and then we'll be guided by the ECB," he said. "Reg is going to come back here and he'll ring me and tell me what's going on.
"I do think the BCCI will make every single effort to get us back here playing Test match cricket in India. There are TV rights and financial considerations and they run world cricket don't they?
"But we will not come back to this country if it's not safe. My life means more to me than anything else and I won't come back if it's not safe."
Pietersen has confirmed no player will be asked to return to India if they do not feel comfortable with the decision, stressing: "I'm not going to force any adult who has got a wife and kids and things like that to do anything – I would never force anyone to do anything they don't want to do."
