'We have decided that this tour is going to go ahead in the current circumstances'

Could we go over what the decision of the ECB is?

We've said all along that we're scheduled to go to India on tour next month and that remains our intention because we believe that as things stand there is no valid reason why the tour should not go ahead as planned. That's been our consistent line.

Obviously, if the world situation deteriorates, and if the advice we are getting from the Foreign Office changes in any way, then we might need to review our position. But at the moment we are very keen to emphasize that this tour is going ahead and we are looking forward to it.

It's highly unusual for High Commissioner Sir Rob Young to come all the way back from New Delhi to brief the ECB and the players.

He was in London any way this week, he hasn't come specially. But I think if Sir Rob had not been in London this week, we would have certainly been asking for somebody senior from the British High Commission in Delhi to come.

The view we took was that it would be much more reassuring for the players to hear from somebody based in India, who knows the Indian situation, who may himself have wife and family out there in Delhi, himself a high profile representative of the UK and perhaps a potential target as well.

We just felt it would have much more resonance if somebody came in from Delhi to talk to the players. It was very fortunate that Sir Rob was here this week. Needless to say our meeting was arranged around Sir Rob who has a fairly busy schedule while he is here in London and, in fact, he was only able to stay for just under an hour. But we were very fortunate that Sir Rob was able to make himself available and we're very grateful that he did.

Sir Rob said he was satisfied with the security that's being made available?

Yes, we'd had some written advice from the Foreign Office that in the view of the experts it was perfectly safe for the England team to be in India, that there had been no examples of any disorder or backlash from the Muslim community. They also clarified the point about British people keeping a low profile, which has caused a bit of consternation.

But it was generic advice wherever you are in the world. We also have to remember that the England team will have around them some extremely rigorous security as they always do when they tour the subcontinent. So Sir Rob was able to enlarge upon the written advice received from the Foreign Office.

He brought it round to a personal point of view in terms of describing himself as high profile, which he is, that he has to live with security all the time and that he and his staff - the 700 people who work all around India in the Diplomatic Service - are all working. They are being ultra vigilant like everyone else in the current circumstances but no families or wives have been repatriated because at the moment there is no need for that to have to happen.

Bringing it down to a family point of view did quite a bit to reassure the players. Let's be honest, a number of players are young fathers with young kids. Understandably, their families are worried about them going off to what they consider to be a slightly unsafe part of the world. Sir Rob was outstanding in terms of the reassurance he was able to give.

From the Indian perspective people simply do not understand why the England team should feel more threatened than anyone else.

I absolutely agree with you, and Mr Dalmiya, who has just taken over as the head of the BCCI, made the same point to Lord Maclaurin and myself last week. He said if the England team feels insecure in India, maybe the Indian team might feel a bit insecure coming to England. Britain is a bit high profile because of the current hostilites and is seen to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the US in this issue.

I think there is a bit of confusion and surprise on the part of people in India that the England cricket team should feel it is such a dangerous time to come to India. We believe there is no reason at all.

The ECB feel there is no reason not to be touring India. We have taken the best possible advice, we believe its perfectly safe for the tour to go ahead. The important thing was to convince the players that it was perfectly safe. They are uncertain, we don't expect them to be experts in world affairs. They are professional cricketers.

Are they the only sportsmen concerned about travelling abroad at this time?

It's not singular to cricketers, there has been the example of Chelsea footballers travelling to Israel and we had the other example of Australian Rugby League players who said they didn't want to come on a tour to England. We in England found that odd.

I entirely respect the fact that people in India find it rather odd that the England cricket team don't want to come to India when they can see that the situation in India is rather safe, that India does not border on to Afghanistan. And they will know from what what we have said publicly that our experts, the Indian government and the Indian board are reassuring the ECB and the players that it's a safe place to go.

As far as we're concerned there is minimal risk to the England players while they are in India and it's a perfectly safe place for them to be. If the situation deteriorates in the next three weeks before the tour is due to depart, then clearly we may need to revisit that. But for the time being with all the best advice that we're getting, it's a safe place to go, the tour is going ahead. We have a commitment to tour India and we wish the tour to go ahead as planned.

Have there been worries about some specific Test venues like Mohali and Ahmedabad?

My understanding is that are concerns about certain venues further away from Afghanistan where the muslim population may be a bit more volatile than the venues we have gone to. As Mr Bindra said from Chandigarh the other day, there is a very small muslim population in Chandigarh, there isn't the slightest hint of any trouble and even Ahmedabad, where there is a significant Muslim population, the advice we're getting is that it's perfectly calm and safe.

The Foreign Office and the British High Commission have cast their eye over the specific venues where we are supposed to be playing and have said that in their view, as things stand at the moment, they are perfectly safe places to go. Should that advice change, either in terms of the general situation in India perhaps because of an escalation of hostilities, or if there is a particular venue where there is concern about a specific threat to our players, then we may have to discuss a possible change of venue with the BCCI. But, at this stage, we have not discussed any change of venue with Mr Dalmiya or Mr [Niranjan] Shah, the new secretary.

Why did you set a Friday deadline for the players to make their views known?

We're anxious not to say deadline. But it's important to know about players' availability because if someone wishes to absent themselves from the tour for genuine reasons of their safety, we need to find replacements.

And whenever you're looking for replacements to send on tour, there are logistical things to sort out, there are flights, inoculations, medical tests, contracts need to be drawn up, etc. If by Friday it's clear a number of players - we hope none - are not prepared to make themselves available after having discussed the issues, we would respect that decision.

Nobody's going to force anyone on to a plane, but we would have to make alternative arrangements because we have decided as a board that this tour is going to go ahead in the current circumstances.

You said earlier in the week that future contracts would not be affected by the individual players' decisions.

We have never suggested, even with Darren Gough and Alec Stewart, that beyond this winter it will count against them. We're certainly not saying this time that if somebody makes themselves unavailable for the Indian leg of the tour that that will be held against them in the future.

There might be an issue as far as the second half of the tour is concerned because they've signed a contract in respect of India and New Zealand. I think we'll just have to sit down and have a little discussion amongst ourselves with the players' representatives and the selectors about the implications of the players only being available for half the tour. But, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. I hope it won't be necessary to have those decisions.