Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, last night described the political situation surrounding the third Test between India and South Africa - which began in Centurion yesterday - as "anarchy", opening up the possibility that England might yet pull out of their tour of the subcontinent.

England's first Test against India, in Mohali early next month, may now become the next battleground in the power struggle between the Indian president Jagmohan Dalmiya and the International Cricket Council for lasting control of a sport facing major schisms. Dalmiya and MacLaurin are at polar opposites of this developing rift.

The worst-case scenario is England may be asked by the ICC to pull out of the Mohali Test. Their avowed support for the governing body, restated yesterday in the clearest terms, would then make their withdrawal from the tour inevitable. MacLaurin refused to discuss such a prospect and said they would see "how the situation developed", but he deliberately did not rule out the possibility.

The fall guy in this potential storm would be the relatively unknown India batsman Virender Sehwag, whose eligibility for the Mohali Test will become a burning issue.

Sehwag, one of six Indians to be punished for their conduct in the Port Elizabeth Test and banned for this one by the ICC match referee Mike Denness - which caused Dalmiya to successfully demand the former England captain's removal from his post - was left out of the Centurion Test which was ruled as invalid by the ICC following Denness's enforced removal by the South African board.

Dalmiya contends the Test is legitimate. The secretary of the Indian board, Niranjan Shah, said of Sehwag, "he is available for the \ Test \against England".

If Sehwag is selected in Mohali, India will argue he has served his suspension, and the ICC will insist he has not. The ICC's chairman Malcolm Gray and chief executive Mal Speed must then decide how to impose their hard-won executive authority that Dalmiya is bent on curbing.

The ICC was keeping its head down yesterday, saying only: "This is a dynamic situation - it is not a closed book."

Dalmiya's language yesterday, superficially at least, sounded placatory enough. "We have to settle this in a sporting manner and see how we can get back to the game itself," he said. "These controversies will not help cricket. We will work out the issues within the ICC. We are a family."

But Dalmiya is now intent upon rallying support among that Test "family" to curb the new powers of Gray and Speed - which English administrators regard as vital to transform the ICC from a disparate squabbling body to an efficient, modernising force. Dalmiya's ambition is to shift cricket's power base from Lord's to Asia.

Yesterday Australia's John Howard followed South Africa's Thabo Mbeki in becoming the second prime minister to become involved in the dispute. "The authority of the ICC should not be challenged in any way," Howard said.

"It is imperative that administrators of all games have the tenacity, the courage and the authority to stamp out behaviour that brings any game into disrepute."

In Centurion, meanwhile, India were inserted and Anil Kumble was bowled for 27 off the day's last ball to leave them on 221 for eight at the end of the first day.