But Commons Leader Peter Hain expressed ministers' frustration when he told MPs today: "This tour will give comfort to Mugabe's murderous rule and I do not believe the England cricket team should be going."
Alan Duncan, Tory shadow international development secretary, said the Government had been "totally duped" by Mugabe. "Now the ban on journalists has been lifted, a cricket tour most people don't want will now go ahead," he added.
"Having used cricket as a political weapon internationally, he will now be free to use starvation as a political weapon domestically," Mr Duncan said.
Labour MP and former sports minister Kate Hoey said: "It is playing into the hands of a despotic dictator. The Government should have got involved much earlier."
The players had been due to fly from South Africa to Harare last night but were kept in Johannesburg after the ban on journalists was announced.
Zimbabwe had rejected 13 out of 36 requests to accompany the tour. The banned organisations included the BBC, the Times, the Sun and the Telegraph. The Zimbabwean government claimed the 13 had been victims of a delay rather than a ban - and it was their own fault for "supplying insufficient information".
Darren Gough has already made clear he will refuse to shake Mugabe's hand. Andrew Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick accepted the ECB's offer to miss the tour for "cricketing reasons". Steve Harmison pulled out this month, citing moral objections. Other players are reported to be deeply uneasy about the situation.
Cancelling would have cost English cricket £1million in fines and many millions more in lost revenue from any suspension imposed by the International Cricket Council.
