May looks for answers on Indian security

Tim May, the chief executive of the global players' union, has called for a new security plan to ensure the game can continue in the subcontinent after the Mumbai attacks. The Federation of International Cricketers' Associations has a meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week and will discuss possible arrangements to increase safety for teams in the region.

"It's a whole new world of risk in India now, that rather than having these random bombings of random places, they are targeting western [interests]," he said in the Age. "It is not the same world we played cricket in five years ago; three years ago for that matter. We need to rise above that."

England are waiting for a final decision on their trip to India, which has been confused by threats on some airports in the country. The team left India following the Mumbai attacks but agreed to return subject to security clearances.

The inaugural Champions League Twenty was also postponed as a result of the terrorism. "Obviously it is a relatively volatile sort of landscape at the moment," May said. "The overwhelming direction that is coming through from players is that they totally understand how important it is for cricket to continue to be played in the subcontinent, and that is not from a selfish point of view in terms of player wages, it is also about the whole game."

May said it was imperative for cricket to continue in the subcontinent "because there's a lot of countries whose financial survival is dependent upon revenues that are generated within that particular territory". "At the end of the day," he said, "there will be a process that hopefully will get all the stakeholders together to run some sort of security summit."