Marcus Trescothick insists playing in the Champions League in India will not be a stepping stone back into the England team.

The opener will spearhead Somerset CCC's challenge for the Twenty20 tournament against Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad today.

It will be Trescothick's first competitive overseas game since leaving the Ashes tour of 2006 with a stress-related illness that prompted his international retirement.

He said: "Somerset have been great about me travelling separately from the squad. Being able to bring my wife (Hayley) with me is the biggest part of this process. It gives me the opportunity to get into this position.

"In international cricket you go away for two months – there's no way I could have taken my wife away for that long. It just doesn't work.

"You can't pick and choose the games and where you want to play. Somerset are able to say 'OK, don't come on this trip but come on this one and bring your wife and come for short space of time', whereas with England you are either willing or you can't do it."

In April, England captain Andrew Strauss offered Trescothick the chance to play international Twenty20, but stipulated he would have to also commit to overseas games in that format.

"I was clear on that point, I knew I didn't want to do that," said Trescothick. "I didn't want to take the travelling on again. I feel the same way now. This (the Champions League) is not a stepping stone to go back into international cricket because I don't want that. I don't have the drive to keep playing and keep being abroad for however long."

But what if England did offer home matches only? "It's not possible for a start, but I'd have to consider it. But I'm very much a believer that if you're going to play international cricket you've got to do it all year round."

"You’ve got to do it in different places. And I would say to them (England): ‘I don’t believe you’re making the right decision by offering me the opportunity.

“Got to take the rough with the smooth. Got to go to the tougher places. It’s hard work out in those places, and you can’t pick and choose.

“And what about the guy who plays in my place in Bangladesh or Pakistan then doesn’t get the chance to be the best player he can in England? I don’t think it ever should work like

that.”

Trescothick added that, if the Champions League went well for him, he would consider the ‘enquiries’ he has had to play in the Indian Premier League.