England's cricketers have until Friday to decide whether to pull out of their tour of India. Here we ask leading cricket figures what they think Angus Fraser
England seam bowler, turned Middlesex captain and media pundit. It's a difficult one. You can understand the players being worried, but on the other hand we're quite ignorant about life over there. After all, there are about a billion people in India, and how many real problems do you hear about? I'm in Dubai at the moment with my family on holiday and it's absolutely fine over here. You worry about people's reaction, but there's been no sign of anything at all. Maybe we've become too paranoid. I'd trust the people in charge -- the Foreign Office have got the cricketers' best interests at heart. But it's up to the ECB as well to stop giving conflicting advice.

Tony Greig
England's captain in the 3-1 win in India in 1976-77, now a leading TV commentator based in Australia. Subject to the Foreign Office's approval, of course the tour should proceed. In this day and age there are no guarantees in respect of safety no matter where the game is played. Should any of the players in the circumstances wish to stand down, they should be allowed to do so. Mind you, if I was England's captain of the day I would be inclined to insist that Tim Lamb and Lord MacLaurin accompany the tour. Take no notice of what Ian Botham has said -- the Indian putting-greens are not up to his normal standard.

Scyld Berry
Reporter who covered the 1981-82 and 1984-85 tours of India for the Observer. He will be doing this winter's tour for the Sunday Telegraph -- if it goes ahead.

It's up to the players and their families to decide for themselves. I don't think the risk comes from within India. It is up to them to judge what risk there is of indiscriminate terrorist attack from outside.

Rebecca Naden
An experienced photographer planning to cover the tour. I change my mind on a daily basis. It's a difficult one -- I was going to work at the Ryder Cup and when the Americans pulled out I thought that was wrong, it was giving in to terrorists. But at the same time no-one should be made to put themselves in a position where they are at risk. I hope they go but I think if they do a siege mentality could quickly develop.

Vic Marks
England offspinner who went on the successful 1984-85 tour of India. Now cricket correpondent of The Observer and a summariser for BBC Radio's Test Match Special. I suppose they should go -- things always seem worse in the imagination than when you are actually there. I went on the very disturbed 1984-85 tour when Mrs Gandhi and the deputy British high commissioner were assassinated, but the difference is that once you're out there it takes an active step to come back again. This time they have to decide whether to go or not.

Bob Woolmer
England batsman, born in India, who coached South Africa until recently and is now coach of Warwickshire and ICC's High Performance Manager. England should tour India. I know it's easy for me to say because I don't have to go, and I accept that every player has the right to withdraw and that safety and families are very important. But if we let these issues dictate our lives, then we would all be sitting at home twiddling our thumbs. If life can carry on as normal, it would serve to show that there is more to living in this world than just violence. For us to overcome these shallow people we must keep our game strong and vibrant. There are of course other reasons for going, such as the financial benefits and the message it would send out to the world. The terrorists might not give a fig if the tour goes ahead, but they would smile if they knew it was called off. This may sound like bravado, but the show must go on.

David Foot
Guardian reporter and author of several acclaimed cricket books. Sport is terribly insignificant when viewed alongside ugly international affairs. But yes, the tour should go ahead -- the grounds aren't exactly in the war zone. If six of the selected players, for instance, don't want to tour -- like the situation at Chelsea -- then I'm sure another half dozen would be queueing up to go. Should there be a moral objection, that's fine and understandable. But most of the excuses seem pretty limp, and provided there isn't too much influence exerted within the party, I feel most of them would want to play in India.

Kamran Abbasi
Author of Wisden.com's Asian View and assistant editor of the British Medical Journal.

England should take a team of players who are willing to go. Anyone who doesn't want to shouldn't be forced, and careers shouldn't be on the line. The problem is that you can't guarantee security in South Asia -- just look at how many heads of state have been assassinated in the region over the past 20 years. If an individual is determined enough, he can disrupt any event. If the situation worsens in Pakistan, then it will increase the number of demonstrations there and also in India, where there are over 100 million muslims. So you need to have a squad of players who are willing to take the risk. It's unlikely that anything will happen of course, but the players would still find it hard to concentrate on the cricket. It would be a shame if the tour doesn't materialise, but it would be unfair to force people to go if they don't want to.

Qamar Ahmed
A leading Pakistan cricket writer. I see no danger in England touring India. The security at their hotel and at grounds would be tighter than ever before.The venues where England will be playing are quite safe and far away from the action in Afghanistan.

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