27 Nov 2008

England's one-day series with India called off

10:13 pm on 27 November 2008

The final two matches of the India v England one-day series have been called off because of security fears following Wednesday's militant attacks in Mumbai, an Indian board spokesman says.

Devendra Prabhudesai said the two one-day internationals have been called off and the future of the two-Test series, due to begin in December, had yet to be decided.

An England Cricket Board statement said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had agreed to its request to postpone the remaining two one-dayers.

The fifth match was due to be played at Guwahati on Saturday and the final game on 2 December.

The England team will not travel to Guwahati on Thursday as scheduled and will remain in Bhubaneswar, pending further discussions with the BCCI.

A group of militants armed with automatic weapons and grenades burst into luxury hotels, a hospital and a railway station late on Wednesday and fired indiscriminately, killing more than a hundred people, including six foreigners.

Former Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming is the only New Zealand cricketer directly affected by the events, as he was preparing to fly to India this weekend as player-coach of the Chennai Super Kings in next week's Twenty20 Champions League.