London: Fearing that a number of senior players may opt out of the Test series when England embark on the tour of India, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) here has decided to keep three rookie bowlers on stand-by.

According to a report in an English daily, the untried Middlesex trio of Tim Murtagh, Alan Richardson and Steven Finn would be part of the England team which will fly to Abu Dhabi Thursday to join the camp there before the two Test series against India.

The Abu Dhabi Cricket Club, which hosted the recent Pakistan- the West Indies ODI series, would be the base of the England team before the Test series against India, the report claimed.

The move to put the rookie bowlers, all possessing up-to-date Indian visas, on stand-by came following reports that pacers Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff, apart from spinner Graeme Swann, are reluctant to tour India following the Mumbai terror attacks. James Anderson is also likely to stay back to be with his pregnant wife.

To make matters worse, injuries to pacers Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad have further depleted England’s pace department.

According to former pacer Dominick Cork, as many as six cricketers might decide stay back.

Cork said he talked to most of the English cricketers who returned home and claimed five-six of them are definitely not going to go back to India for the Test series.

“I know of at least five or six players who are going to turn their backs on England,” Cork told a radio station.