Yorks tie called off for playing England youngster with Pakistani passport

English cricket was left open to ridicule last night when a prestigious Twenty20 Cup quarter-final was farcically postponed due to a player eligibility dispute arising from a match 11 days ago.

Thousands of spectators had arrived at the Riverside for Durham's showdown with Yorkshire and many more were pouring into the ground when the game was called off, eight minutes after the scheduled start time.

Last night a row was growing between Yorkshire and the ECB over exactly when the ruling body first became aware of the problem. Officials at Lord's claim they were first alerted to the situation late on Friday evening, while the county say they had already been fined over the problem earlier that day. Either way, nobody did anything until it was too late for the paying public.

Yesterday the ECB contacted the two counties just two hours before the scheduled start to advise them that the encounter could not go ahead. When Yorkshire defeated Nottinghamshire in their final North Division match at Trent Bridge, they gave a debut to Azeem Rafiq, a 17-year-old spinner and former England Under 15 and Under 16 captain.

Darren Gough, the Yorkshire captain, admitted that he knew very little about his team-mate other than that he was from Barnsley and his comments alerted the ECB, who decided to investigate.

Officials at Lord's discovered last Friday that Rafiq was not formally registered and asked Yorkshire to submit the relevant paperwork. They realised that a crucial form had not been signed by the player, meaning he was not qualified to play in the first team, and that he holds a Pakistan passport, despite having moved to this country seven years ago.

No play: The scoreboard declares match abandoned before the Twenty20 Cup quarter final match at Riverside, Chester-le-Street Durham

In short, he was not registered and even if he had been, he would have had to be classified as an overseas player. The ECB received documents from Yorkshire yesterday morning, but it was not until just before 3pm that Durham and Yorkshire were advised not to proceed with the match.

David Harker, Durham's chief executive, reflected the widespread disbelief that the matter had not been resolved sooner, saying: 'The biggest cost is to the reputation of cricket and the competition. It's a sorry state of affairs to turn up at the quarter-final of a major competition to be told that we have to sit down and think about where we go next.

No way: fans gather at the Riverside before the game's late call-off

'The Notts v Yorkshire game was a week last Friday. If shortly after that game it was clear there'd been an error, we would have had time to do something about it.'

Geoff Cook, the Durham coach, was equally dismayed and said: 'The whole thing is very unsatisfactory, sad for the game and sad for the competition.' Yorkshire were embarrassed to have been the cause of such a farce.

But with a place in the inaugural Champions League, worth $5million, up for grabs for this year's Twenty20 Cup finalists, it is also an issue which could prove damaging for the club if they are thrown out.

Coach Martyn Moxon said: 'It is a disaster for Yorkshire. It reflects badly on the club and I can only apologise for the trouble we have caused Durham.'

A panel of the ECB's cricket disciplinary commission is due to meet on Thursday to decide what course of action to take. Notts could be reinstated if Yorkshire are thrown out, although Glamorgan will monitor developments. The most likely scenario would see the result at Trent Bridge reversed, leaving Notts to face Durham, possibly on July 20.

Last night, ECB chief executive David Collier defended the handling of the situation, saying: 'I don't think we could have done any more. The worst thing would have been to ignore it and let the game go ahead with the knowledge that it may well have to be replayed.'