Durham will travel to the Rose Bowl on Saturday for their first appearance in Twenty20 finals day with a side who look as strong as some of those in the Indian Premier League. Players of such pedigree as Shaun Pollock, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Stephen Harmison head an array of present and recent internationals, giving Durham a crushing advantage yesterday against a Glamorgan team without an overseas player.

The Welsh county's place in the quarter-finals as one of the best third-placed teams was confirmed only after Yorkshire were penalised two points for fielding an ineligible player, Azeem Rafiq, the 17-year-old off spinner from Barnsley, in their group match against Nottinghamshire. Rafiq bowled only two overs in the nine-wicket win on June 27, but it was discovered that the Pakistani-born player, who has represented England at age-group level, did not possess a British passport and should have been treated as an overseas player.

Glamorgan's steady seam bowlers and, especially, their three spinners kept Durham's batsmen working against the collar. Put in, the home side's innings built slowly from an unsteady start, in which four wickets fell for 50 inside seven overs.

The spinners, Robert Croft and Dean Cosker, came on early and bowled seven overs in tandem for 43 as Durham consolidated through a confident Will Smith and a cautious Dale Benkenstein, the captain. A pulled four and six off consecutive balls from Alex Wharf gave Smith his fifty, off 37 balls, before he ran himself out. Benkenstein had holed out to mid-on earlier in the over.

That left Durham stuck again at 108 for six, with only four overs left. But 55 came off those four, with Gareth Breese, Shaun Pollock and Liam Plunkett scoring at express pace.

Plunkett then gave his side a flying start by bowling Richard Grant first ball and adding David Hemp to a thin edge in the same over. A recovery had barely started when Stephen Harmison came on to bowl at about 90mph. He also deflected a straight drive with his boot fortuitously to run out Tom Maynard.

More significantly, the England fast bowler yorked Mark Wallace when the left-hander was counter-attacking with spirit. Glamorgan, despite matching Durham's progress for runs and wickets until four overs remained, folded quickly. Ultimately, they were defeated by the extra quality that Durham possessed in the death overs.

Scoreboard

Durham
M J Di Venuto c and b Croft 20
†P Mustard b Harris 7
P D Collingwood lbw b Harrison 2
S Chanderpaul c Hemp b Harris 7
W R Smith run out 51
*D M Benkenstein c Maynard b Wharf 19
S M Pollock c and b Harris 20
G R Breese c Maynard b Dalrymple 20
L E Plunkett not out 12
B W Harmison not out 0
Extras (lb 3, w 2) 5

Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 163

S J Harmison did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-19, 3-26, 4-49, 5-102, 6-108, 7-140, 8-151.

Bowling: Harrison 3-0-25-1; Harris 4-0-41-3; Croft 4-0-22-1; Cosker 4-0-28-0; Wharf 3-0-32-1; Dalrymple 2-0-12-1.

Glamorgan
R N Grant b Plunkett 0
*D L Hemp c Mustard b Plunkett 4
M J Powell c Smith b Plunkett 7
J W M Dalrymple c Benkenstein b Collingwood 32
T L Maynard run out 9
†M A Wallace b S J Harmison 26
A G Wharf run out 11
R D B Croft not out 17
D S Harrison c Chanderpaul b Collingwood 0
J A R Harris c Chanderpaul b Pollock 8
D A Cosker c S J Harmison b Pollock 0
Extras (w 5) 5

Total (17.4 overs) 119

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-23, 4-54, 5-81, 6-88, 7-106, 8-108, 9-118.

Bowling: Plunkett 3-0-16-3; Pollock 3.4-0-15-2; B W Harmison 2-0-16-0; S J Harmison 3-0-16-1; Collingwood 4-0-32-2; Breese 2-0-24-0.

Umpires: J W Holder and R T Robinson.

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