Yorkshire looking to host Asian Ashes at Headingley

Yorkshire's chief executive Stewart Regan made the revelation as the club prepared to host today's second Test between Pakistan and Australia at Headingley Carnegie (10.30am start).

"There's talk of Pakistan playing India next year, and we want to be at the forefront of the queue to host one of those games," said Regan.

"With Pakistan unable to play in their own country at present due to security concerns, it's the sort of match we'd love to bring to Headingley Carnegie if Pakistan continue to use England as a neutral venue.

"That's one of the reasons this week's fixture is so important to us.

"If we can make a success of Pakistan versus Australia and put on a really good show, it puts us in the shop window to host a potentially even bigger fixture further down the line."

The idea Headingley could effectively become a home from home for Pakistan was one of the reasons Yorkshire opted to forego the Test between England and Bangladesh in favour of the neutral contest.

Yorkshire has one of the biggest Asian populations in the country and the club have made determined strides in recent years to better engage with the Asian community, helped by the success of stars Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid.

Ticket sales, however, have been disappointingly slow for this week's contest and Regan admitted Headingley may not even be half-full on any of the scheduled five days.

The club are banking on a sizeable walk-up of Pakistan fans for a game that marks the official opening of the new 21m Carnegie Pavilion.

"I think we all envisaged that the England fans we effectively lost, if you like, by giving up the England versus Bangladesh game would be replaced by Pakistan fans turning up to watch their team play," added Regan.

"At this moment in time, however, that hasn't materialised.

"We're just hoping we get some big walk-ups to take us to over 50 per cent capacity.

"If that happens it would be fantastic, but we've long accepted the ground won't be full for any of the days."

The apparent lack of interest is bound to make some question whether Yorkshire did the right thing in relinquishing the England fixture.

But Regan insisted the decision was sound.

"The England versus Bangladesh Test that was in our staging agreement was due to have been played in May before we'd completed our new pavilion development," he explained.

"For that reason, plus the fact Pakistan versus Australia was the bigger game on paper and bearing in mind the demographic of Yorkshire and the high Asian population, all indications pointed to this being a more attractive match.

"We had four partners who supported us in this – Leeds City Council, City of Bradford Council, Welcome To Yorkshire and Marketing Leeds.

"The word from all the partners was that this was a really attractive fixture and raised the whole sort of diversity agenda, and that it would be a fantastic way of bringing more British-born Asians into the ground to showcase the facilities we've got here."

Regan added: "If we had our time again, I don't think we would have kept the original game.

"We were looking at two years in a row of having a Test match here without our new facility opened, and there were also the social and demographic issues to consider.

"Not only does it showcase Headingley to the Asian community, it also puts us in a prime position to host potentially more lucrative matches further down the line."

If Yorkshire succeed in their efforts to become a regular base for the Pakistan team, there would be no bigger game than Pakistan versus India.

The match could be worth a significant seven-figure sum to a club who are 18m in debt, with Regan last week warning there may be redundancies if this week's game is not a financial success.

The Duke of Gloucester will officially open the new pavilion before the start of play this morning.