July 16, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 12, 1429

LONDON, July 15: Glamorgan were dramatically thrust into the quarter-finals of English cricket’s Twenty20 Cup after an appeals panel upheld the decision to expel Yorkshire from this season’s tournament following a registration row.

Yorkshire were thrown out of the tournament after fielding ineligible teenager Azeem Rafiq against Nottinghamshire last month.

The Headingley-based county appealed, arguing their punishment was “manifestly disproportionate”.

But Monday’s England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) appeals panel said that while their win over Nottinghamshire should stand they should be stripped of the points they’d received for victory.

Originally, those points were awarded to Nottinghamshire but the alteration means that Glamorgan will now go through to the last eight as one of the best third-placed teams.

Rafiq, 17, had not been registered as a first-team player with the ECB by Yorkshire, and it then emerged, despite captaining England at under-15 level, he did not hold a British passport.

Yorkshire’s quarter-final with Durham was called off just minutes before the scheduled start as concerns over Rafiq’s eligibility emerged.—AFP