Stewart Regan, Yorkshire's chief executive, has apologised for the postponement of his side's Twenty20 Cup quarter-final at Durham.

Last night saw chaotic scenes at the Riverside as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) called off the match upon discovering the visitors had fielded an ineligible player, spinner Azeem Rafiq, during the group stage of the competition.

"Ultimately, the buck stops with me. I'm responsible for running the club," Regan said.

Asked whether he would consider his position, Regan countered: "I don't think making a scapegoat of someone is what this matter is all about."

Thousands of fans, many of whom had only just arrived at the ground, were left bemused when the news reached them less than five minutes before the scheduled 5.40pm start.

Regan claimed he first became aware of problems surrounding Rafiq's eligibility when the ECB contacted the club on Friday, a week after his side's final North Division win at Nottinghamshire.

The outcome of the game decided which of the two teams would progress to the competition's quarter-finals.

Academy player Rafiq was handed his first-team debut in the match after the centrally-contracted Michael Vaughan was ordered to rest by England at short notice.

Regan said: "We carried out some investigations internally and it transpired that whilst we notified the ECB that the player was on an academy contract, we hadn't completed the correct paperwork for him to be registered to play in the first team.

"The ECB said they would try and register him retrospectively."

He added: "The club has got to put its hands up and say we didn't register the player correctly and we didn't look into the player's personal circumstances as a first-team cricketer.

"The situation was compounded because he was pulled straight from the academy at very short notice to play for the first team when we had a couple of other players unavailable.

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