Hussain told a new conference on Wednesday: "The International Cricket Council have still got a chance of relocating the fixture and I hope they do because we enjoy playing Zimbabwe.

"We have close links with them and that is one bad thing to come out of this."

England, who have refused to travel to Zimbabwe because of safety concerns, have been given until 1600 GMT on Thursday to hand in an appeal to have their Group A match moved to South Africa.

"I am sure the Zimbabwe players understand our decision. It has been a drain for me, I have been thinking about it for six weeks and I'm sure a few of the team have been doing the same.

"It came to a head when we arrived here (Cape Town) and we were involved in making the decision. We were dealing with very complex issues such as politics, a split in world cricket and English cricket going under."

World Cup organisers last week turned down England's request to move the match to South Africa on security grounds.

That decision was supposedly binding but England have continued to argue for a switch, saying the social and political unrest in the country could endanger their players.

The England squad has barely trained since the end of last week because of the controversy.