Cricket Betting: More than just a test match. India needs England to return.

England Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 02 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

The 'will they won't they' saga of whether or not England's cricketers will return to India, is almost at an end with a decision expected in the next few days. Ed Hawkins is one who feels that the squad should go back .....

Reg Dickason, the ECB's security advisor, has flown to Chennai, the new venue for the first Test which is due to start on December 11, to compile a report. He will have to be quick because his bosses and the players wanted him to report back today.

It is probable that Dickason will be unable to find strong enough reasons to tell the ECB that the tour must not go ahead and then it will be down to individual players to decide.

We already know that Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and James Anderson do not want to go back. Flintoff has an ankle injury anyway, Harmison is wary of leaving his own post code at the best of times and Anderson's wife is expecting a baby. That alone is good enough reason to stay at home.

If those three do stay behind, Matthew Hoggard, Sajid Mahmood and Amjad Khan could be given the chance to resurrect and launch Test careers respectively. Mahmood and Khan were called up to reinforce the one-day team before the abandonment.

Indeed, it could be that opportunity knocks for a number of players. Michael Vaughan, the former captain, has the character and resolve to spot the chance to reclaim a Test place for the Ashes. Robert Key and Liam Plunkett, who have been in India with Vaughan as part of the England Development squad, could also be names in the frame to return to Test action if absentees allow.

What is certain is that the BCCI are bending over backwards to help England's players feel at home. They are desperate for the tour to go ahead. Lost revenue is probably the main reason but the importance of cricket in the country - culturally and commercially - cannot be underestimated at a time of strife.

It may sound insensitive but the quicker India is allowed to move on from Mumbai the better. A terrorist's aim is to disrupt every-day life and cause a climate of fear surrounding his target. If the tour did not go ahead it would be a victory for the gunmen.

The itinerary had already twice been changed before venues a long way from Mumbai were decided upon. The original venue for the first Test was Ahmedabad but with a bomb blast there only six months ago and Mumbai close by, game one will be played at Chennai's Chidambaram Stadium.

England should feel at home in Chennai, formerly Madras. Cricket fans there are known to be the most knowledgeable in the world and while most Indian grounds are packed with frenzied home support, spectators treat the teams with remarkable even-handedness.

The weather will be to England's liking, too. Two of the last three Test matches have been curtailed by rain and Chennai has a long history of poor weather. The first Test will be played during the north east monsoon season.

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England have won three times in Chennai and help from the elements will be appreciated - remember rain is a spinner's nemesis and a swing bowler's dream.

Mohali has been chosen, it appears, solely because it is a satellite town of Chandigarh - again in the north of the country - which will allow the England squad easy access to Delhi and a flight home to be with their families for Christmas.

The best present they can give to India is to get on that plane and play two Test matches, sending a message that terrorism does not pay. The show must go on.