England tour of India increasingly unlikely

England's tour of India starting next month looks increasingly unlikely to go ahead after England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Ian MacLaurin said on Monday the players could be a potential target.

"An England side in India is a very high profile side," MacLaurin told a news conference on Monday. "If people are looking for trouble they could focus on the England side."

"It (the tour) is on at the moment but there would have to be a definite improvement in the situation for the tour to go on."

England are scheduled to play three Tests in December plus five one-day internationals early in the new year.

MacLaurin said playing international cricket did not conform with the British Foreign Office's advice last week for Europeans visiting India to keep a low profile after the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan.

"If we have the same advice in two weeks' time that we had last week then I don't think our players will go," MacLaurin said.

Earlier, MacLaurin told Reuters that ECB director of cricket John Carr was examining other tour options. He said Carr had spoken on Monday to England captain Nasser Hussain, who has asked the ECB for an early decision.

"What's for sure is that the players' safety won't be compromised," MacLaurin said. "They are the crown jewels."

MacLaurin was speaking at Sandhurst Military Academy before a group of young English players flew to Australia for coaching at the Australian Cricket Academy.

New Zealand have already cancelled a tour of Pakistan scheduled this month after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington and the subsequent bombing of Afghanistan.

West Indies, who are due to tour Sri Lanka this year then Pakistan early in 2002, have delayed a decision on both trips until after this week's International Cricket Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Mail Cricket Editor