Expats shun Pak vs Oz Test?

Although Yorkshire boasts England8217;s second largest Pakistani population outside of London,the expected support for Pakistan 8211; who won by three wickets after bowling out Australia for just 88 on the first day 8211; failed to materialise.

Instead,only a few thousand were in attendance for each of the four days the match lasted,in a ground holding 18,000,as Pakistan levelled the two-Test series at 1-1.

The matches were played in England because of security concerns in Pakistan where international cricket has effectively been suspended since an armed attack on Sri Lanka8217;s team bus in Lahore in March last year.

Colin Graves,Yorkshire8217;s chairman said there would be cuts but promised 8220;no alarmism8221; and insisted the playing staff would be unaffected.

8220;We don8217;t see swingeing cuts at all 8211; there is no alarmism here,8221; he told BBC television8217;s Look North programme yesterday.

8220;We had a board meeting last Thursday while the Test match was going on,anticipating what was going to happen.

Asked why so few,Yorkshire-based Pakistan fans turned up to watch the match,Graves replied: 8220;I think we expected them to be using credit cards in January,February,March.

8220;Unfortunately,they didn8217;t. But they also didn8217;t turn up on the day 8211; which was a surprising thing,from our point of view.8221;

Some queries whether a daily ticket price of 30 pounds was too expensive and Graves said: 8220;Yes,we could have reduced the prices 8211; that can be levelled at us 8211; but we think 30 pounds was fair value for a good day8217;s cricket.8221;

Graves insisted any cuts would have no bearing on Yorkshire8217;s squad,saying: 8220;While I have been at Yorkshire,we8217;ve never cut the cricketing budget 8211; and we never will.8221;

Meanwhile,Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan was left contemplating some depressing figures,telling the Yorkshire Post: 8220;The match has cost us several hundred thousand pounds in terms of lost ticket revenue.

8220;I would say we8217;re in the region of 500,000-750,000 pounds short of what we were expecting,which is a big disappointment.8221;

Arshad Chaudhry,chairman of the Leeds-based Asian Business Development Network,was also saddened by the small crowds,which he blamed on a lack of media coverage in the build-up to the match. But he warned counties such as Yorkshire might be unwilling to stage 8216;neutral8217; games in future unless they could expect better attendances.

8220;Yorkshire and the ECB England and Wales Cricket Board have gone out of their way to host the Pakistan-Australia home series here in England,8221; Chaudhry told AFP here on Sunday.

8220;We need to appreciate the effort,as it involved financial risks on behalf of the organisers.8221;