But the 2 point deduction however, has the same effect and means that Yorkshire Carnegie will not meet Durham Dynamos in a Quarter-Final this season. Glamorgan take Yorkshire Carnegie's place by virtue of Net Run Rate. The Yorkshire County Cricket Club are disappointed with this decision.

The Club have argued all along that this is an administrative oversight and they still believe that if Azeem Rafiq's application for registration had been submitted at the start of the season alongside the other players it would have been successful as it would have been discriminatory to refuse to register a player not old enough to become a British citizen in his own right.

Stewart Regan, Yorkshire Chief Executive, said, "This is a tragedy for Azeem Rafiq. We all know he is just a Yorkshire lad who wants to play cricket. As well as having the disappointment of the appeal hearing he was dropped last Friday from captaining the North of England Under17 development team, a development role he has been involved with for the last 2 years with no problems.

"We think there is serious unfairness involved for the player at present and would hope that his application for registration is resolved at the earliest opportunity, ideally at today's ECB Board Meeting. The player's Yorkshire and England career is on hold until this is resolved."

Whilst the result is disappointing it was positive to note that witness statements from Darren Gough, Martyn Moxon, Ian Dews, Azeem Rafiq, Dave Clayton (Barnsley CC) and Stewart Regan were accepted in full and without question. It was also accepted that The Yorkshire County Cricket Club had acted honestly and in good faith and not sought to gain an unfair competitive advantage.

The Club have accepted the decision of the Appeal Panel and will not be taking the matter any further. They wish to put the events of the last few days behind them and will now concentrate on the remainder of the 2008 season.