DUNCAN FLETCHER, India's head coach, is no stranger to ruffling Australian feathers and yesterday he was involved in a ''storm in a teacup'' which led to suggestions India were considering abandoning their tour match in Canberra yesterday.

A potential diplomatic furore threatened to erupt yesterday morning after a chain of ''Chinese whispers'' started by a ''flippant'' remark from a member of India's support staff, not involved in team management, worried that wet weather would interfere with the team's Boxing Day Test preparations.

''He made a flippant comment 'we may as well go to Melbourne','' said Manuka Oval's venue manager, Matthew Tokley, who will today file a report to the ACT government's media explaining yesterday's brouhaha. ''It was a case of Chinese whispers. That's then completely blown out of proportion, coming down to a threat from the Indian team to fly to Melbourne which is completely not the case.

''Advertisement: Story continues belowWorried after nearly nine millimetres of rain fell in the hours leading up to yesterday's start, the staff member, wearing India's team uniform, approached Manuka Oval's curator, Brad van Dam, at 9.30am wanting to know his assessment of how much play would be likely this week.''He wanted to know exactly what's happening now because the Indian team wants to look at changing venues, hop on planes, get to Melbourne and get their preparation going,'' van Dam said last night.

''I said to him: 'It's only 9 o'clock, just relax, it's not that drastic. There's still days to go and there'll be cricket played today, everything's ready to go. Just got to wait for the rain to stop.'

''He was quite frantic about needing to know now but I said we just have to wait.''

An hour later, Fletcher spoke to the curator and was told play would start at 1.40pm after groundsmen had cleared the overnight rain from the playing surface.

The incident, had it escalated, would have marred the start of India's tour of Australia - the sub-continental giant's first on these shores since the bitter ''Monkeygate'' series four years ago.

It's not the first time Fletcher, the mastermind behind England's Ashes success in 2005, has been embroiled in a controversy with Australians.

His cheeky wink at Ricky Ponting from the balcony at Trent Bridge after the batsman was run out by substitute fielder Gary Pratt saw the then Australian captain launch a tirade at the English dressing room.

During the 2009 Ashes series, Fletcher, who by then was no longer coach of England, wrote a newspaper column criticising Ponting over Australian concerns regarding perceived gamesmanship from the hosts in the closing stages of a thrilling draw in Cardiff.

The Herald is not suggesting Fletcher was the architect of yesterday's episode but he may have become unwittingly involved due to the staff member's loose lips.

Van Dam said: ''He's the head coach, I suppose everything comes from the head coach.''

Fletcher, however, was far from agitated in talks with the curator.''He was fine. He was [wearing his] game face, ready to go,'' van Dam said. ''He said nothing about leaving. He wanted to know about the weather, if the game was to be started … ''

Van Dam, however, believed a heavy-handed approach had been taken to what he believed to be a ''storm in a teacup''.

A spokesman for the Board of Control for Cricket in India said late last night the visitors had not planned to leave, saying, ''these are international fixtures, one has to adhere to them''.

Article Source: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/hard-rain-edgy-indians-threaten-to-fly-south-20111219-1p2jt.html