Graeme Swann has joined Stephen Harmison in expressing concern about returning to India for the Test series, but admitted that his decision will be clouded by ambitions to win a place in the side. Unlike Harmison, whose rare asset of pace will always make him a favoured choice, the uncapped Swann knows that opportunities for a second spin bowler to work alongside Monty Panesar may be limited in future.

“I have every faith in Reg Dickason [the team security officer] to come up with a good report, but I would not be 100 per cent happy going back,” Swann told BBC Radio. “At the moment I am not too keen. Playing the Tests could do some good for people in India, but you have to weigh that up and ask that if things are kicking off out there, then what good are you doing just providing another target?”

His international career has been confined to 15 one-day games, but the experience of the recent 50-over matches suggests that he will be a strong candidate to feature in the five-day side if the two matches go ahead, especially with the pace department likely to be seriously depleted. Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson are also reluctant to return and Ryan Sidebottom is struggling with a back problem.

Kevin Pietersen, the captain, has said that any decision to pull out will not be held against individual players, but their absence opens the way for others to press a case. “It is tricky for people like myself who are struggling to forge a regular place,” Swann said. “It is a very difficult decision and not one that anybody will enjoy having to make.

“When we left India it did not seem the place to be. I think it would be a shame if we stayed in England as there is unfinished business, but if our safety is in jeopardy, I do not think there is any chance of us going back. While things could change over the next ten days or so, it seems to me to be pretty volatile out there at the moment.”

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, urged England not to stay at home. “If safety and security allow, then I would urge the England Test tour of India to go ahead and if it does so, then representatives of the ICC will be there to show solidarity with the competing teams,” he said yesterday.“Sadly, terrorism appears increasingly to be a fact of life that we must endure. What we as a cricket family must do is to try, wherever possible, to rise above it and show that those who wish to perpetrate evil cannot win.”

Lorgat said all ten full ICC members, plus three associate members, would discuss security issues raised by the terror attacks in Mumbai at a scheduled meeting in Cape Town next week.