England’s cricketers want round-the-clock protection from a commando squad and an emergency evacuation plan put in place if they are to return to India after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Details of the security demands from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) emerged yesterday, exposing the extent of the nervousness about going back to play two Test matches, the first of which is scheduled to start in Madras (Chennai) a week tomorrow.

The ECB insists that there will be no compromise, but last night it was claimed that no amount of precautions would be enough to persuade some England players to go back. Dominic Cork, the former Test player, said: “I know of at least five or six players who are going to turn their backs on England. Those I’ve spoken to are traumatised. What they saw on television was ten times worse than what was shown here.”

The unprecedented levels of protection for an international team were revealed in a leaked e-mail to the Hindustan Times. The mood at Lord’s was one of disappointment that such confidential information should find its way into the public domain. The ECB insists that the combination of time difference, time constraints and the need to set out the security demands clearly means that conversation by e-mail is necessary.

Given that the governing body has insisted upon the highest levels of security, the question remains as to whether it is within the power of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to provide it. The crack troops who were involved in the response to the Mumbai attacks last week are answerable to government agencies only; nor is it clear how Mohali airport will accommodate the size of plane necessary to ensure an emergency flight out of the country in the event of another incident. The second Test is scheduled to start in Mohali on December 19.

Outside the Government, however, no organisation in India is as powerful as the BCCI. Sharad Pawar, until recently the board’s president, is the Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. His links with the Government and the realisation that much is at stake for Indian cricket, given the threat of isolation, should ensure that the ECB’s demands are met in full.

Lord’s has yet to be given any indication that its requirements are deemed disproportionate, but while its desire to do everything possible to ensure the safety of its players is understandable, the fact that neither cricket nor cricketers have been targeted on the sub- continent gives rise to the suspicion that the Mumbai atrocities have resulted in a high degree of paranoia among England players and officials.

Officials from the ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association spent the day at the Foreign Office, while Reg Dickason, the England team’s security adviser, began to collate information in Madras before submitting his security report, which will make or break the tour.

It now seems likely that the team will travel to Abu Dhabi towards the end of the week to practise while awaiting Dickason’s findings.

Although large crowds can be expected in Madras, there has not been much appetite recently for top-class cricket in Mohali, even for the Indian Premier League. Add to that an understrength England team (should Andrew Flintoff and Stephen Harmison remain opposed to the tour), two groups of players shadowed constantly by commandos and levels of security designed to keep spectators out rather than entice them in, and the prospect of cricket in these circumstances is a joyless one.

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