English cricket teams returns India for Test series

The ECB announced today that England's revised tour of India will go ahead as planned, with a full squad of players travelling to compete in two Test matches. The first will start on Thursday in Chennai, although Mohali is yet to be definitively confirmed as the venue for the second match, beginning on December 19.

The tour had been in serious doubt since the terror attacks on Mumbai last month, which forced the cancellation of the one day international series and a change of venue for the proposed Tests. The England party flew home immediately following the attacks and even after they returned to a training base in Abu Dhabi, with officials flying to India to address security concerns, doubts still remained over the participation of the full England squad. Just today reports suggested that Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff were among those reluctant to return.

But a statement appeared on the ECB's website this evening confirming that the full squad would travel to India, and Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, revealed that lengthy discussions convinced all the players that it was safe to return. "It's obviously been a very emotional 10 days or so since the atrocities in Mumbai," Morris said. "We've had a lot of discussions with the players following a number of security information audits we've had from the very highest levels of government and our own security team. Following the meeting we have had this evening, we can confirm that the England team will be travelling to Chennai in the next 24 hours to play in the first Test match against India.