While media outlets in India and Pakistan did their best yesterday to keep open the possibility of further conflict, there was at least a lull on the cricket front. The directors of the ECB spent the day in meetings assessing security reports from a variety of sources while the players, no doubt, indulged in a little retail therapy or other unexpected seasonal activities.

Given the extensive nature of the security requirements, and the need for the ECB to be absolutely sure that its duty of care to its players has been followed, it is expected that a final decision will not be reached until some time over the next 24 hours. The smart money, though, is on England returning to India towards the end of the week to complete the Test-match portion of the tour.

Yesterday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) offered Mohali as an alternative to Ahmedabad, the scheduled venue for the first Test. Chennai has already been pencilled in as an alternative to Mumbai, where the second Test had been scheduled to take place, and since it was expected to stage a Champions League fixture, and therefore is in a greater state of readiness than Mohali, it is thought that Chennai will host the first Test.

The warm-up match, scheduled for Baroda, has been cancelled, while the ECB suggested that the team could still get some warm-weather practice in Abu Dhabi before landing in India. Despite reports from the BCCI that indicated that the ECB is happy with the new arrangements, the latter has sought extra security checks on Chennai and Mohali.

Gradually over the past couple of days, the expectation among the players has shifted. When the atrocities in Mumbai took place, there was little appetite among any of them to return and the fear was that once home they would find it very difficult to leave again. Now, though, they are beginning to recognise that they are duty-bound to accept the security advice offered to them and, unless anything dramatic happens in the next 24 hours, that advice is likely to suggest that the tour should go ahead.

Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, spent yesterday at the Foreign Office while keeping in touch with the England players. It is understood that, with the exception of Andrew Flintoff and Stephen Harmison, the rest are happy to leave the decision to their employers. Robert Croft, who, along with Andrew Caddick, pulled out of the 2001-02 India tour after the September 11 terrorist attacks, said yesterday that he regretted his course of action and wished that he, too, had left security decisions to those who know best.

From a cricketing perspective, England would look favourably upon Mohali, it being one of the few venues in India that seam bowlers can look forward to with some optimism, although without Flintoff and Harmison, and with Stuart Broad nursing a sore hamstring, England's attack would have a threadbare look. But it is preferable to go into a series with people who want to play instead of those who would prefer to spend the run-up to the festive season in the Dog and Duck.