England captain Nasser Hussain said some of his players have been reduced to tears in trying to decide whether to play their World Cup match in strife-torn Zimbabwe.

Hussain told a new conference on Monday that his players met to try and reach a decision over Thursday's match in Harare following concerns about security, and social and political unrest in Zimbabwe.

"It was a very emotional, very heated meeting," he said. "There were people in tears earlier... Each individual was speaking, telling his pros and cons for going. We weren't sure what we were doing."

Hussain added that some of the squad had been "very much upset" by a letter containing death threats sent to the England board, but added that some "were taking (it) lightly, some weren't".

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.