Zimbabwe has lifted its ban on British journalists planning to cover a five-match cricket tour by England, clearing the way for the visit to go ahead.

Major Anyway Mutambudzi said on Thursday a backlog of applications, including those of the 13 barred reporters, had been cleared.

"The confusion came initially from the fact that people had applied as a group rather than as individuals as is required by our law. We have cleared everyone," he said.

The England team, which is due to play the first one-day match in Zimbabwe on Friday, were ordered to stay in Johannesburg on Wednesday by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The team is holding a meeting with officials at their hotel in South Africa and a decision on whether the controversial tour should go ahead is expected soon.

ECB chairman David Morgan said earlier England would cancel its tour unless a "significant number" of the journalists, banned on Tuesday, were admitted to cover the matches.

"We certainly will not proceed with the tour unless a significant number of the 13 are accredited," Morgan told BBC radio from Harare.

"In the event of some not being accredited we would need to know the reasons why before bringing the cricketers here to play cricket."

Relations between Zimbabwe and its former colonial ruler Britain have hit rock bottom since Mugabe launched a campaign of chaotic and often violent seizures of land from white farmers, many of whom held dual British citizenship.

Britain, accusing Mugabe of rigging his 2002 re-election, has spearheaded international sanctions against Mugabe, who in return accuses London of masterminding a campaign of economic sabotage and negative media coverage as the once prosperous Zimbabwean economy faces its worst crisis since independence.

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An information minister spokesman, interviewed on BBC radio, denied the government had changed its mind about the media ban.

He said Zimbabwe would not allow in journalists who wanted to report on politics under the guise of covering the tour.

"It's a long (accreditation) process. We don't want to mix sport and politics, let's not bring in politics into the game of cricket. If we do that we'll have problems," he said.

Morgan and the ECB's director of operations, John Carr, are expected to meet the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, Peter Chingoka, after Carr cancelled a planned trip to meet the England squad in Johannesburg on Thursday morning.

"It was decided that it would be more effective for the whole process if John Carr stayed in Harare," England's team spokesman Andrew Walpole said. "However John and David will be in contact with the squad."

Walpole said Morgan had spoken to International Cricket Council President Ehsan Mani by phone on Thursday morning.

England have asked the ICC, cricket's governing body, for a ruling on whether the media ban gives grounds for the ECB to cancel the tour.

Under the ICC's Future Tours Programme, tours can only be cancelled on the advice of a government or because of overriding security and safety worries.

The ECB could risk a $2 million fine and suspension from the international game if England pull out for any other reason.

Last year, England pulled out of a World Cup one-day match in Zimbabwe, citing security concerns.

The majority of British media organisations hoping to cover the tour, including the BBC, were told on Tuesday they had been denied accreditation by the Harare government.

Applications by other organisations including Reuters appeared to have been successful.

The British government called in a senior Zimbabwe diplomat on Wednesday to express its "deep concern" about the media ban which the Foreign Office said was "further evidence of its (the Harare government's) refusal to allow the international and domestic media to operate freely in Zimbabwe".

(Additional reporting by Cris Chinaka in Harare)