Marcus Trescothick has to return home

Marcus Trescothick last night flew home from the Champions League in India after a recurrence of the stress-related illness that ended his international career.

The former England star had been on his first overseas trip since the Ashes tour of 2006 and had appeared to be coping well with the most high-profile club competition in cricket history.

Trescothick was even wired up by television to provide comments from the middle while fielding as Somerset qualified for the League stage with one win and one defeat.

But, behind the scenes, the Keynsham- born batsman was struggling and director of cricket Brian Rose last night revealed that Somerset CCC were considering sending him home following the county's first game against Deccan Chargers.

Rose declined to reveal the symptoms of Trescothick's latest illness.

He said: "I can't go into particular detail but what I can say is we realised after the first game that things weren't quite right.

"And so after the second game we were seeing whether we had qualified and when we had we decided that the best thing for him was to return home.

"We have no problem with that. Marcus is fine but we just needed to send him home."

Trescothick was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Hayley, but Rose felt the absence of their two children was not a factor in his departure.

"Marcus has made a great effort to come out here in the first place considering what he has gone through," he said.

"It was great to have him here and be part of the team and get through to the next round.

"I don't regret him coming out in the first place. He was fine when we were coming out here."

Trescothick's last attempt at an overseas trip was aborted at Heathrow Airport in March 2008 before Somerset's pre-season tour to the United Arab Emirates.

He quickly recovered from that breakdown in a matter of weeks to enjoy his second best ever county season.

Now the new Somerset captain has all of the winter to recover from his recurrence.

Rose said: "I think he will be fine when he gets home. I don't think there's any cause for concern. He was great for us this season and I am sure he will be great this year."

There had been many England fans who had been hoping a successful Champions League would lead Trescothick to reconsider his international retirement. That now looks further away than ever.