ENGLAND will send a cricket team back to India later this week if security advice is favourable, although individual players are free to opt out because of the Mumbai massacres.

Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England team, who arrived back in London with the players last night, said any replacements would be recruited from the England high-performance squad, essentially the national B team.

Morris conceded that there was a “degree of nervousness” among the players after the outrage in Mumbai. Asked if it was valid for a player to withdraw if security experts deemed the tour safe, he said: “That’s what they [the players] need to decide over the next 48 hours . . . if someone feels strongly, I would not force their arm.” He is clearly hoping that if the England and Wales Cricket Board shows a determination to fulfil the tour, most players will be dragged into line. “We have returned to assess security and will let the players see the information on the ground, but we are committed to going back to play.”

There was speculation last night that two of England’s biggest stars, Steve Harmison and Andrew Flint-off, would withdraw. Both have young families. They are unlikely to be pressured into flying back to India by captain Kevin Pietersen, who said: “If any of the lads don’t want to return, that’s fine with me.”

Harmison seems to have decided, saying: “The live pictures on TV here were shocking. The hotel corridor down which people were dragging the dead was a corridor I had been walking down 10 days ago.”

The ECB expects security advice for everywhere except Mumbai will not have changed and is judged safe. However, some players may be suspicious of being used as pawns in commercial negotiations between the England and Indian boards or just naturally fearful.

Given even one or two withdrawals, England’s prospects on the field would be slim but the priority is no longer results. With security a grave issue in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India, and Zimbabwe a no-go area on moral grounds, the world game is in crisis. England’s players are being asked to do their bit.

The second Test was scheduled for Mumbai but moved south to Chennai, which has seen little violence of late. Ahmedabad, venue for the first Test, saw 63 people killed in a series of bomb blasts in July but England’s advisers are satisfied that sufficient protection is in place at a venue that has been on the itinerary for months. England’s warm-up match is due to start in Vadodara on Friday but Morris confirmed the match could be put back by 24 hours and reduced to a two-day fixture to allow more time to assess security.

Although the players and the ECB are intent on cooperation, they arrive at the crisis from different angles. While the players are cautious of putting themselves back in the firing line, the board has an historic inclination to keep the show on the road. The last time political violence curtailed an England tour was in Pakistan 29 years ago.