Have the Mumbai Attacks Hit Indian Cricket's Soft Underbelly?

It is testament to the tour organizers and Security Chief Reg Dickason, that England’s tour of India is still going ahead.

Of course at the highest level of cricket, re-scheduling the test matches and training camps was never going to be an issue, as long as security wasn’t either.

During the winter it is easy to forget the rungs of the ladder which support the upper echelons of world cricket, but the Mumbai bombings have affected many other areas of the international game.

Sanjay Patel is a link between talented young cricketers from the South-East of England and The World Cricket Academy, a company that runs cricket academies all over the world, including Mumbai.

Even if these academies are given the go-ahead, tension in the area is still concerning some clients.

“The attacks in Mumbai have left many people, parents in particular, worried about the upcoming camps in December and January.”

WCA offers camps in Sri Lanka and Australia as well as India, so there are alternatives, but Patel explains that it isn’t that easy. The travel industry has already suffered from the current economic climate.

“We can’t afford to give people refunds, and even relocating some of the cricketers to other camps is either logistically impossible, or improbable because of costs.”

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Angst and paranoia is understandable, especially when considering that WCA caters for children as young as 11. Of course, the safety of anybody travelling abroad is paramount, but one has to look at the goal of the academy.

“Primarily, as far as the younger children are concerned, it is safety and enjoyment which we focus on.”

“However, when we start taking youth, county and international cricketers, we start looking beyond technique and start trying to integrate these guys into the whole sub-continental experience.”

England have failed countless times on the sub-continent with tour successes being described as ‘famous’ as opposed to habitual. England’s cricketers have not only been outclassed on the field but struggled off it as well with problems ranging from homesickness to food-poisoning have traditionally causing problems for English touring parties.

The ECB and 1^st class counties are doing their best to rectify this problem. Somerset sent promising cricketer Michael Wood and Hampshire have sent their U17 team to tour Mumbai in conjunction with the WCA.