England placing faith in security experts’ advice

A third night of riots saw trouble spread to Birmingham on Monday, confining both teams to their city-centre hotels while police battled to contain the looters.

But while a string of football matches – including England’s friendly against Holland at Wembley tonight – have been cancelled because of disturbances in other urban areas, the third npower Test appears set to take place as scheduled.

England captain Andrew Strauss reported yesterday that he and his team have been told they are “100 per cent safe”, and his opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni is receiving similarly reassuring advice.

Several members of the home team tweeted from their hotel on Monday night about the disorder outside, but they appeared at ease when they arrived for practice at Edgbaston yesterday morning.

Strauss said: “It hasn’t really affected us or our preparation much at all.

“All these things are determined either by our security team or the authorities that are running the match.

“We have been given no indication that the game isn’t going ahead, so it’s right for us to prepare as we normally would.

“I don’t think we have been distracted by it.”

Strauss and Dhoni are both saddened by events which – although nowhere near the level of threat encountered by both in the shape of the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 – have again beset a high-profile series between England and India

“Clearly there are big things going on in the country at the moment,” said Strauss.

“To say they’re affecting us greatly would be wrong.

“The way we have looked at these sorts of circumstances is our security manager is there for a reason and he has got to determine what is safe for us – either to go away on tour or play a game of cricket. So far he has said it’s 100 per cent safe.

“You should always go on their advice, and that’s certainly the advice we took when we went back to India after the terrorist attacks.

“I don’t think we feel unsafe.”

A small group of England players were told to return to their hotel when it became clear there was likely to be an escalation in Monday night’s violence.

“A few of the guys were out early – I wasn’t, actually,” said the captain.

“We got some advice from our security manager to come back to the hotel, because there were obviously some disturbances going on in the city centre.

“From then on you could see the odd police car going back and forth, but otherwise we were quite isolated from what was going on.”

Several members of the India team found themselves closer to the danger zones.

“We were outside shopping in the city centre,” said Dhoni.

“We came back and had plans to go for dinner. But Zak, our security officer who is with us, said it’s better to stay in the hotel.”

India will happily continue to be guided by the experts.

“Wherever you are, if things like this happen it’s sad,” added Dhoni. “I don’t think there’s much we can do as individuals or cricketers, so we’re sticking to what we can do – practising for the game. We are cricketers, not professional guys who know about security, so let’s leave it to them. They will be the ones who decide what needs to be done.

“Cricketers get ready for the next game, and that’s what I think is important for us. We are avoiding things we can avoid, doing the things we can do to be secure.”

Chris Tremlett was yesterday ruled out of the Test because of a back injury.

England had already included Steven Finn in their squad as pace-bowling cover for Tremlett, who also missed the second-Test victory in Nottingham last week after suffering tightness in his hamstring and then back spasms.

Teams for the third npower Test between England and India at Edgbaston, starting today (11am)

England (from): AJ Strauss (captain), AN Cook, IR Bell, KP Pietersen, EJG Morgan, RS Bopara, MJ Prior (wkt), TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, GP Swann, JM Anderson, ST Finn.

India (from): MS Dhoni (captain, wkt), V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, SK Raina, A Mishra, P Kumar, S Sreesanth, I Sharma, P Ojha, M Patel.

Umpires: S Taufel (Aus) and S Davis (Aus).

Third umpire: R Tucker (Aus).

Match Referee: R Madugalle (Sri).

Yorkshire batsman Joe Root has been called into the England Lions’ one-day squad to face Sri Lanka A in a three-match series beginning at Worcester on Friday. He replaces Ravi Bopara, who was called up into England’s Test squad.

Yorkshire make an early start

THE London riots have prompted a change to the start time of Yorkshire’s Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Middlesex at Lord’s today, writes Chris Waters.

The fixture was supposed to have begun at 3.40pm and been played under floodlights, finishing at around 9.25pm.

But it will instead commence at noon and finish around 5.45pm, amid concerns over public safety.

Lord’s took the decision following consultation with Yorkshire, Middlesex and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The respective bodies did not want spectators leaving the ground late at night, although Lord’s have stressed there has been no sign of trouble in the St John’s Wood area in which the ground is located.

Yorkshire have nothing but pride to play for in today’s contest as they sit bottom of Group A after six defeats in eight games.