Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison have refused to return to India to play the Test series, while captain Kevin Pietersen says he’s game, as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has all but decided to send the team back to complete the tour, according to reports.

ECB managing director Hugh Morris said the board would make a decision only after their security consultant Reg Dickason had made an assessment. “Clearly, we are committed to going back and playing in a Test series if it is safe to do so,” Morris said after the team’s arrival at Heathrow late Saturday night. However, a report in the Sunday Telegraph said the assessment was just a formality and the board had already made up its mind to send the team back.

It also claimed that all-rounder Flintoff and fast bowler Harmison were expected to pull out, citing their children and wives as the prime consideration. “Harmison has pulled out of tours before, but Flintoff’s absence would deprive England of their best bowler in Indian conditions,” the report said.

“A lot hinges on the attitude of captain Pietersen, but assuming he is persuaded by the ECB of the enormous compensation which would be demanded by the Indian board and falls in line, the rest of the England party will follow his lead,” it said.

For his part, Pietersen, though shaken by the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, said he was ready to go back if Dickason cleared the tour. “We can’t allow these cowards to run our game,” Pietersen wrote in the News of the World. “It puts it all into perspective when you see blood on the streets. But if Reg gives us the OK, then I’ll be back for the two Tests...He has been around the block and I trust his judgement 100 per cent. If he says it is safe to go back to India for the first Test in 11 days, you can count me in,” he added.

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