England to tour, conditions apply

England will tour India for two Tests after all, but their trip from airport to airport is likely to take place with the shadow of commandos hovering over the players at every step, reports Anand Vasu.

England will tour India for two Tests after all, but their trip — from airport to airport — is likely to take place with the shadow of commandos hovering over the players at every step. After lengthy and detailed negotiations on Monday, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) put a list of security demands before the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

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England will arrive from Dubai and play the first Test in Chennai (December 11-15) and then head to Mohali for the second (December 19-23) before flying out in time to be home for Christmas. The three-day warm-up match has been cancelled.

N Srinivasan, secretary of the BCCI, said, "ECB will be sending its security consultant for discussions with the authorities in India before final clearance is given for the Tour," in a press release.

The HT has learnt that the ECB has already prepared a security wish list and officially communicated this to the BCCI. High among the list of demands is the presence of a sufficient number of elite commandos at both Test venues. The players and ECB officials watched the tragic events of Mumbai with great interest, especially the rescue operations mounted by the elite forces.

An ECB official close to the negotiations told HT there was every hope that the Indian board, after consulting with relevant government agencies, would respond favourably to the security demands.

For starters, Ahmedabad was vetoed as a Test venue, and with this Baroda lost the practice match as well. The England team detailed their Chennai-Mohali plan and wished to spend the least amount of time possible on Indian soil, arriving late and leaving as early as possible. Even these plans would be subject to approval by a security review of the British High Commission and the Indian High Commission in London.

The ECB wants a high-level security plan in place and these arrangements to be shared with Reg Dickason, their security expert. That the ECB should specifically ask for a sufficient number of commandos to be present is an indication of how shaken the confidence of the players is, and how closely they watched the aftermath of the Mumbai attack on TV.

The England cricket team always stays at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai and their kit had already reached the hotel when the attacks took place. The ECB also wanted an emergency evacuation plan in place — to fly the players back to England — should a terrorist strike take place.

There was also a request to have a serious security blanket thrown over areas the players would be sure to spend time in — the dressing room and team hotels, for example.

Finally the ECB has underscored the importance of the two boards appearing united in front of the public in the face of the latest terror attacks.

To this end they have suggested that some part of the earnings from either one of the Test matches or both be allocated towards raising funds to help the victims of the Mumbai tragedy.

These negotiations come in the wake of Haroon Lorgat, the International Cricket Council CEO, urging cricket boards to come together in this hour of need. "What we as a cricket family must do is to try, wherever possible, to rise above it and show that those who wish to perpetrate evil cannot win," said Lorgat.

"If safety and security allow then I would urge the England Test tour of India to go ahead and if it does, then representatives of the ICC will be there to show solidarity with the competing teams."