England and India, with a history of spats in their recent meetings, did not even wait for the one-day series to start before falling out again. The touring side were roused this time when India batsmen struck balls into England's practice area during final preparation for the game in Rajkot this morning.

Andrew Flintoff, in his pads, strode more than 50metres to complain to Venkatesh Prasad, the India bowling coach, after one shot narrowly missed Andy Flower, the England batting coach, who was concentrating on his team's nets. As he confronted Prasad, the all-rounder brandished his bat in the direction of the stroke to reinforce the point.

Minutes later, Peter Moores, the England head coach, followed a similar path to warn Gary Kirsten, his opposite number, that somebody could be seriously hurt if the India batsmen continued to swing at full power in the same area. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, was among those who had hit expansively.

According to Prasad, his exchange with Flintoff - who was padded up ready with Paul Collingwood to replace Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah in the England nets - was “just a friendly chat” and Kirsten, too, tried to play down events. He said: “Peter Moores just came over to say, ‘Take it easy with the balls.' You all saw it.”

Moores said: “You play that slog-sweep instinctively against the spinners, but the netting was quite low so it was easy for the ball to go over and come towards us. I had a word with Gary, coach to coach, [to say] that it was not a good idea. You do not want anybody on either side to be clonked on the head.”

The 2007 Test series degenerated during the match at Trent Bridge when an England fielder, thought to be Ian Bell, angered Zaheer Khan by dropping a jellybean on to the pitch when the India bowler was batting. Zaheer took it as an insult and an attempt at gamesmanship. During the same Test, Shantha Sreesanth delivered a no-ball bouncer at Collingwood from well in front of the crease.

Whereas in England teams train separately either side of lunch, over here the norm is for morning practice all round to avoid the harshest heat of early afternoon. Grounds facilitate that with nets in more than one area. India toned down their hitting after the Moores intervention and later allowed England to use those particular nets during a break in their own practice.

England did not pose the same threat to the Indians because of the absence of left-handed batsmen to slog-sweep in their direction - even though a switch-hit by Pietersen did head that way. Alastair Cook, the only left-handed member of the England specialists, took a net very early before India had settled into their routine.

Pietersen was unfazed. “I was batting at the time so I didn't know what was happening,” he said. “I don't think too much needs to be read into it. If a guy is practising, he's practising.”

He emphasised how England are looking forward to playing in the passionate, sometimes frenzied atmosphere here, but does not expect either side to give any quarter. “We play cricket tough, so do India and so do Australia and South Africa for that matter,” he said. “I just think that nations play with passion and pride, which is fantastic.”

Stuart Broad passed a fitness test on his sore knee to be named in the side announced yesterday, which also included Ravi Bopara ahead of Luke Wright. Graeme Swann, an influential and slightly unsung member of the team in Sri Lanka last winter, was left out as the early start (9am local time)persuaded the selection team to pick a four-man seam attack.

“Ravi is so exciting,” Pietersen said. “I have been very impressed watching him in the nets and on the TV in the summer. I am a huge, huge fan, he is a quick learner and always wants to ask questions. It is unfortunate for Luke as he has done nothing right and nothing wrong, but on these pitches we felt we wanted to give Ravi a go.”