“On behalf of the Board of Directors of The Yorkshire County Cricket Club I write to express my sincere apologies for events leading to the postponement of Monday evening’s Twenty20 Quarter Final between Yorkshire Carnegie and Durham Dynamos.
“I can honestly say that the Club did not intend to gain any unfair competitive advantage by playing Azeem Rafiq in our final group match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws. The failure to register the player or check his final eligibility for registration has led to the harshest penalty possible, that is expulsion from the competition.
“The Club will learn from this mistake and procedures have already been put in place to prevent this happening again. We are all extremely embarrassed that we have damaged the game’s reputation and I felt it appropriate that we send you our apologies.”