Stay or go?

"If these fanatics are going to target people then the England cricket side could be a very big target for them […] For myself, I don't think they should go back."
Ian MacLaurin, the former ECB chairman, votes no

"We don't succumb to it [terrorism] in England and I do believe that if the team have the assurances of safety and security why shouldn't they play?
Ian Botham is all for making a statement

"Somewhere in the wreckage of the Taj hotel are the white clothes, kit and off-field uniforms of the England team, to be used in the Test series in 11 days' time. Even if their things are entirely undamaged, how can the players be expected to look at them in the same light as before?"
Scyld Berry points out that this attack was closer home than others

"A sympathetic understanding of why they left does not prevent me from believing they should return […] I simply think that, having had a brief opportunity to reconsider their position, the cricketers should be wondering if their opposition to playing the Tests solidified too hastily. Farfetched as it probably seems to them this morning, their future may be happier if they take the field at Ahmedabad on December 11."
Hugh McIllvaney in the Sunday Times thinks England should have a good think about it all

"As cricketers, we are entertainers, but we should not be entertaining at a time like this. It is up to England to make their decisions but I can understand their concerns."
Mahendra Singh Dhoni sympathises

"When England go back their stock with India will surge. They will be in a position to extract favours from India - and Pakistan […] The subcontinent provides cricket with so much of its commercial and cultural lifeblood that the game cannot for long stop being played there. That is why England must resume their tour."
Simon Wilde takes the cold, pragmatic view, in the Times

"We shouldn't allow such attacks to disrupt our determination […] The memories of the Taj for an English cricketer can be sentimental. They have always stayed at the Taj on their visits here. But let's keep sentiments aside here."
Lalit Modi takes a clinical view

"There is the danger that the England team could become a bargaining counter in the delicate political negotiations between the ECB and the BCCI. That would justifiably infuriate the players, who are in a stronger position to influence matters than they were in 1984."
Vic Marks draws a parallel with the ill-starred England tour of 1984-85

"I do not think we would force anybody to do anything."
Hugh Morris, the managing director of the ECB makes it clear that there will not be recriminations against players who opt out…

"On a cricket field I might ask people to do things in a certain way but I will never tell people to do anything. A man is a man and he can make his own decisions."
… and so does Kevin Pietersen

"Perhaps the tour should not proceed as planned. The desperation to play for reasons of cocking a snook at madmen (for whom cricket is probably not a priority) and to protect other commercial interests can both be accommodated by the simple expedient of a longer postponement.
Stephen Brenkley proposes a Plan B in the Independent

"If the country is deemed safe […] they should go and play. Otherwise no one will come to England - teams will say we are as much a terrorist target as any country."
Bob Willis fears the possible fallout if England refuse to tour

"How anyone can say that we should be carrying on with the tour in the circumstances is beyond me."
Don't expect Steve Harmison to be queuing up at Heathrow soon

"I would understand if there are doubts about staying on but I would expect that if the players went back to different areas of the country, they would be fine. I would almost suggest that if they went back to Bombay, they would be fine.
David Gower, captain on the 1984-85 tour, thinks it'll be all right

"Unless the Foreign Office advice is to stay at home, I shall certainly be going."
Mike Atherton declares his intention to vote with his feet

"If they [ECB] have decided to abandon the tour for safety reasons, that shows they are taking their duty of care for the players seriously."
Nasser Hussain makes it clear what he thinks the board ought to do

"I just hope the decision is taken out of the players' hands, and that it is not a financial decision but is made with their wellbeing - and the supporters' and media - first and foremost."
Michael Vaughan wants due consideration before the choice is made

"There is the argument that the show must go, but some things are bigger than sport."
Robert Croft, the former England offspinner, who pulled out of the 2001-02 tour of India in the wake of the 9/11 attacks

"If safety and security allow, then I would urge the England Test tour of India to go ahead and if it does so then representatives of the ICC will be there to show solidarity with the competing teams."
Haroon Lorgat provides the ICC's studiedly neutral view