BIRMINGHAM: For some of the Indian players, Monday evening was like any other match eve: after a long training session, they hit the city centre for some more shopping, and some more sight-seeing.

Just as they were making plans for dinner, however, they got a call from the team officials. "Violence is spreading here too," they were told. They promptly returned to their rooms.

Security officers advised them to cancel their evening engagements and stay put in the hotel. "The food there is pretty good," captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni quipped. "So, we were fine with that."

A few journalists were not so lucky. They had already stepped out and couldn't get back to their own hotels or apartments. Rioters and looters were already out.

Any fears of the third Test, scheduled to start on Wednesday, getting affected were however quickly dispelled. "There is nothing to think that the match will not go ahead as planned," an ECB spokesperson said.

"It's business as usual," confirmed Steve Elworthy, head of communications for ECB. "The match will start at 11 am local time. We are in touch with the police but the usual protocols are in place."

London has been in the grip of angry mobs for four days now. Birmingham too felt their wrath on Monday, with as many as 100 youngsters arrested in the night.

England's players were understandably worried. Some of them apparently saw the violence themselves and were more than happy to give firsthand accounts.

"Just seen the rioters in Birmingham fleeing down the main street followed by a load of police in the full get up. What's going on," tweeted Tim Bresnan. His partner at speed Stuart Broad said, "Police vans all around Birmingham where we are right now."

All this, however, didn't seem to bother England as they came to the ground on Tuesday for their last training session before the big Test.

"We expect the game to go ahead," England captain Andrew Strauss said on Tuesday. "It's up to the authorities to decide whether or not it's right for the game to go ahead. They're slightly extraordinary circumstances at the moment, but for us to think anything other than the game going ahead would be wrong."

Dhoni said: "There are concerned authorities that are looking into this matter. All this is sad. But we can't do much as cricketers. Our job is simply to practise."

He refused to comment when asked if India were being much more patient, considering that England or Australia might have withdrawn immediately if something like this had happened in India.

"I don't want to speculate on that. I don't want to start another controversy," he added.