Sport | Cricket
England players fly into UAE
The England Test players bound for India flew into the UAE shortly after midnight on Thursday.
- By K.R. Nayar, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:35 December 4, 2008
- Boys are focused on playing some red ball cricket in Abu Dhabi, says England cricket team captian Kevin Pietersen.
- Image Credit: AP
Dubai: The England Test players bound for India flew into the UAE shortly after midnight on Thursday.
"The England players have flown in from different airports in England and hence have landed in Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports and they will assemble in Abu Dhabi today," Shahnawaz Hussain, the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council official, told Gulf News.
"We have made all arrangements for the team's practice. Fortunately it did not rain much in Abu Dhabi and hence the pitch is fit for practice.
"The England team is yet to decide on when they would like to practise but we have made full arrangements."
On whether they had asked for practice matches, Hussain said: "They haven't asked to keep any teams ready and hence may play matches against themselves."
Very confident
Owing to Eid most of the top players in the UAE are on holiday and are out of the country.
Prior to boarding the flight to the UAE, England skipper Kevin Pietersen told a press conference at Heathrow airport that he was "very confident" England would play their scheduled Test matches in India but admitted a final decision would not be taken until Sunday on whether to resume their tour suspended after the Mumbai terror attacks.
Pietersen said that he and his players wanted to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the Indian people.
But he also stressed that the team would wait for a final report from security chief Reg Dickason before finally deciding whether to travel on to India early next week.
A bomb alert in Chennai, where England are scheduled to play the first of two Tests from December 11, further confused the situation as the England players boarded their flight.
Pietersen said: "We have to buy ourselves some more time in Abu Dhabi. It's fantastic we have a bunch of players who went to India initially and now want to go back and play some cricket.
"It's very important that we go shoulder to shoulder with the Indian people in their time of need and go and demonstrate in India what we want to do and show our support. Hopefully we'll play some Test match cricket."
Pietersen had hinted earlier this week that England's players would be reluctant to return, admitting that he had himself been unable to sleep after watching the horrific events in Mumbai unfold on Indian television.
But he acknowledged that pulling out of England's commitments would have serious repercussions for the sport. "As it stands at the moment the boys are focused on playing some red ball cricket in Abu Dhabi to start a Test match hopefully on Thursday in Chennai."
- With inputs from agencies
Mohali: Security stepped up
The police in Punjab have already started to scale up security in and around the Mohali cricket stadium where the second Test match between India and England is due to be played, ahead of the visit of the security advisor from England.
"We only came to know about the English security advisor's visit from the newspapers and have not got any official intimation about it. However, to avoid any last-minute problems, we have started our preparations," the senior superintendent of police Jatinder Singh Aulakh said yesterday.
- IANS
Share this article
Popular in Sport
-
Golf
Realistic hope
Briton, on verge of turning 29, is among the fancied four for title
Sport Editor's choice
-
Westwood in control
Englishman grabs two-shot lead as Harrington pays price for double-bogey on Earth course
-
Stojakovic leads Hornets to victory
New Orleans, under new coach Bower, hand Phoenix their third loss of the season
-
Harrington: Hit and miss
Harrington drops lead after a double bogey on the 18th, shares second spot with six others in Dubai World Championship
