Headingley Won’t Host Ashes Tests Due to Financial Risk

The Chairman and CEO of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Colin Graves has revealed it will not bid to host an Ashes Test in 2013 or 2015 at their Headingley home because it would represent too great a financial risk.

After confirming losses of £2m (US$3.2m) for 2010, the club are not prepared to take the risk following poor attendances for the Pakistan v Australia Test at Headingley last summer.

Yorkshire has a staging agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board that guarantees it one Test and a one-day international each year between 2012 and 2019, but counties have to bid for the right to host Ashes matches.

In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Graves stated: “There’s no chance at all of us hosting an Ashes Test. For 2013 and 2015 we are not allocated an Ashes Test, we won’t be allocated one, and we are not going to bid for one to put ourselves at risk again.

“The figure is not fixed but it could cost anything between £1m ($1.6m) and £2m ($3.2m) to make a bid. I’m not putting between £1m and £2m at risk because it’s not worth it. I’d rather stick with what we’ve got.”