Next summer's Twenty20 World Cup will go ahead in England as planned after Zimbabwe finally agreed today to withdraw from the event.

A shabby but always likely compromise, with Zimbabwe retaining their International Cricket Council membership - and the funding that goes with it - was agreed this morning after more than two days of talks in Dubai.

Moves to have Zimbabwe kicked out of the ICC had seemed possible when South Africa cut cricketing ties with their neighbour, and England swiftly followed suit after the sham election victory of Robert Mugabe.

But any realistic chance of that happening disappeared once India, the powerhouse of the world game, insisted they would not consider moral and political arguments.

That left the threat of Zimbabwe still insisting on playing in the Twenty20 World Cup and sparking a highly damaging split in international cricket.

The British Government had made it plain that Zimbabwe's cricketers would not be welcome next summer.

But denying them visas to take part in a global event, rather than the already cancelled 2009 tour, could have resulted in the tournament being moved and opened up the probability of England and, perhaps, Australia and New Zealand boycotting the rearranged event.

A statement from the ICC said: "The Zimbabwe delegation were aware of the decision of the British Government not to allow the series in England in 2009 to go ahead. They have also taken note that the British Government is likely to refuse to grant visas for the Zimbabwe cricket team to take part in the ICC World Twenty20.

"Therefore, the Zimbabwe delegation have decided to recommend to their board that the team should withdraw from that event. They will report back on the decision of their board to the ICC within one month. Zimbabwe will not suffer financially as a result of the team's non-participation in the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

"The Zimbabwe delegation have agreed to take this decision in the greater interest of world cricket and the ICC. This recommendation should be viewed as a one-off and will not be taken as a precedent."

In an attempt to deal with any further developments, Ray Mali, the departing ICC president, has recommended a sub-committee be set up, chaired by Dr Julian Hunte (West Indies), to advise them on all matters relating to Zimbabwe cricket.

England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke welcomed the resolution.

"This has been a complex series of negotiations and I'm very pleased we have reached the agreement we have," he said today.

"We had long discussions with all our colleagues in the ICC over the past three days.

"We made it clear how we saw the situation and I'm very grateful to everybody for recognising the way forward."

South Africa captain Graeme Smith, whose side were playing Middlesex today, said: "Our administrators' stance has been pretty clear on Zimbabwe of late. For the game, and with the tournament being held in England, it is a good thing but I think there is a lot of water to flow under that bridge.

"Sport will not influence Mugabe too much but any sort of pressure on that regime is warranted and our board have made that pressure clear, as have England."

The Twenty20 World Cup is already nearly sold out and is expected to raise £10million for the game in this country.

An associate member country will get Zimbabwe's place.