Test series on, home sojourn to help players: ECB

Bhubaneswar, Nov 28 (PTI) The England and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB) Friday asserted that the Test series against India
is very much on and at the same time felt a home sojourn would
do a lot of good to Kevin Pietersen and his teammates who are
shocked by the Mumbai mayhem.

"We're going to London to re-evaluate the situation but
the Test series is still in place," Hugh Morris, ECB managing
director, said as England left Bhubaneswar for Bangalore to
catch a connecting flight to London.

Assuring that the side would return for the two-match
Test series starting next month, provided security concerns
are taken care of, the ECB official said going home would help
the cricketers, who were pretty disturbed by the terror
strikes in Mumbai.

"To get back to a home environment will be a good thing.
It's been an awful tragedy that this has happened in Mumbai
and the players have felt very close to it because they have
been in the hotel and in the rooms and the restaurant only a
couple of weeks ago and getting back home for a few days will
serve them well," he said.

"This is a tragic event and the players feel desperately
sorry for all that are caught up in the events in Mumbai.
They're very disturbed by it as we all are," added the ECB
official.

England are supposed to play a Board President's XI in a
three-day warm-up match at Vadodara from December 5-7 before
proceeding to Ahmedabad for the first Test from December 11.
The second Test, originally slated for a December 19 start in
Mumbai9, would now take place in Chennai.

Optimistic that the Test series would take place, Morris
said, "I think the players' desire will be there. It's a Test
series the players have looked forward to for a long period of
time.

"It's always a huge challenge to play cricket over here
in India. I would be confident the players will come over here
full of enthusiasm and wanting to do well in the series," he
added.

Morris said ECB was also apprehensive if having just one
warm-up match was a good idea before the Test series.

"We clearly have to have some practice. We haven't played
the longer form of the game for a period of time and that is
something we're still looking at," Morris said. PTI