Tourists at odds over players' plea for a home visit

England want away. The long-held suspicion that England's plans for the World Cup are in a state between chaos and confusion was confirmed last night. As if the playing strategy was not enough of a concern – aggravated by a dismal 10-wicket defeat to Australia in the VB Series finals yesterday – there is now an argument about when the team should gather in South Africa for the tournament.

Several players who have been in Australia for more than three months are anxious to spend five days at home in England before embarking on the World Cup campaign. Their employers at the England and Wales Cricket Board have refused to sanction the trip so far but had further talks yesterday with the players' representative, Richard Bevan, of the Professional Cricketers' Association.

After an hour-long meeting early yesterday the ECB issued a statement saying that it had rejected the initial request. "Following a meeting with David Morgan, the ECB chairman, and the players earlier this week the Board is giving it further consideration."

The issue is further muddled by a possible difference of opinion, probably for the first time, between Nasser Hussain, the captain, and Duncan Fletcher, the coach. Hussain wants to return home if only for three days. Fletcher declined to comment but, while Hussain seemed to suggest that they were in agreement, Morgan, who is in Sydney, indicated otherwise.

Hussain said: "The important thing is to do what is best for this team. We, along with the coach, should try to decide that. Some of the boys have asked me as captain, and the coach, if they can go home for three or four days, unpack their suitcases and get Australia out of their system. We are not naughty schoolkids asking for a day off, we're professional sportsmen and athletes."

The players' argument is that by flying to England, albeit briefly, they will form a definite dividing line between the disastrous tour of Australia and their World Cup campaign. Alec Stewart, the party's elder statesman, said: "What we'd like to do is go home for a few days if the VB Series lasts only two matches. It would give us a break from the rest of the team and cricket. But the main thing would be that it would signal the end of the Australian tour and the start of our World Cup campaign in South Africa."

The row could be resolved if England were to take the VB Series to a third final. In that case there would simply not be enough time for them to go home before their first warm-up match in South Africa on 4 February. However, the chances of that happening after the emphatic defeat in Sydney yesterday are most unlikely.

England, as they say of transfer-seeking footballers, want away and they want away now. They insisted that the request – believed to have been made by some of the seven players who have been in Australia since the start of the tour – did not affect their performance in the first of the VB Series finals.

Morgan, who has spoken to the players, said that the coach and England's chief medical officer, Peter Gregory, did not think it was a good idea for the players to return to England because of the effects of two long-haul flights within days.

Cost is likely to be a consideration of the ECB. It will also be aware that neither Hussain nor anyone else will be able to have the rest they crave. The continuing saga over England's World Cup match in Zimbabwe is certain to bring an excited media to their front doors.