On the up

The problems of the past have been well documented. The modernisation of the Headingley ground, culminating in the opening of the £21m Carnegie Pavilion, was a costly process, but necessary if the ground was to retain its Test-match status.

If Yorkshire were canny in identifying international cricket as the key to a secure future, however, the club was taught the painful lesson that this had to involve the England team when they lost money on the disastrous decision to host a match between Australia and Pakistan.

It was a result of this heavy investment and unexpected loss that Yorkshire plunged into debt and posted an overall loss of £2m in 2010. Indeed, at the time the situation was so bad that the club predicted another £1m loss in 2011.

That this anticipated deficit has been halved in the latest figures published yesterday, then, represents something of a triumph for Yorkshire, particularly when the England matches to be staged over the next eight years are forecast to bring the club back to profit.

Of course, with a £19m debt still to be serviced and a public with considerably less money to spend than in recent years, Yorkshire must still bat very warily and on a tricky wicket. But the evidence suggests that, thanks to some prudent management, a corner has been turned and now Yorkshire are on the up, hopefully towards the First Division.