Durham want Yorkshire thrown out

Durham chief executive David Harker has called on the England and Wales Cricket Board to throw Yorkshire out of the Twenty20 Cup after the teams were forced to postpone Monday night's scheduled quarter-final match.

ECB chiefs ordered the match to be postponed due to the apparent ineligibility of 17-year-old Yorkshire spinner Azeem Rafiq for a group match against Nottinghamshire last month in which he played, and they will consider what action to take on Thursday.

"To be honest the only fair outcome now is that we go to the finals, and if it's a result of Yorkshire being kicked out, then so be it," said Harker.

Both finalists from the domestic competition will qualify for the inaugural and highly lucrative Twenty20 Champions League.

The winners of that competition stand to win £2.5million, and Harker is keen for Durham to progress.

He believes any re-arranged game against Yorkshire would hamper Durham's chances of success due to their busy fixture schedule.

"Any other solution which doesn't have Durham automatically proceeding to the finals day is going to further disadvantage us, and that can't be right," he added.

Harker confirmed Durham would appeal against any decision by the ECB to re-arrange the match.