LEEDS Cricket Football and Athletic Club, who own Headingley, are now prepared to sell the cricket ground to Yorkshire - and the county club are eager to buy it just as soon as it is financially possible to do so.

This coming together by two parties so often at loggerheads in the past, was revealed at a press conference at Headingley when it was announced that from now on Yorkshire will be responsible for the selling of all corporate cricket hospitality at the venue, whether for Test matches or county games.

Leeds CFAC had previously been in charge of organising corporate hospitality inside the cricket ground and Yorkshire's cut of the profits this year amounted to about £50,000.

But Yorkshire chief executive Colin Graves said he estimated that under the new arrangement Yorkshire could see their income from this source rise by up to £250,000.

Leeds will get a guaranteed basic financial return but in effect Yorkshire have at last got their hands on the income stream from cricket catering which is what they have long sought but until now have been unable to achieve.

Leeds CFAC chairman, Paul Caddick, who attended the press conference along with the company's managing director, Gary Hetherington, said he was confident that Yorkshire would do very well and he felt it was right that cricket should be selling cricket.

Caddick said Leeds CFAC now enjoy a solid relationship with Yorkshire and he added that the ideas now being agreed on had first been put to the county club five years ago and rejected. "We should all benefit from rationalising the management at Headingley and I am sure we will do so under the new relationship," he said.

Dunnington-based Graves said he had enjoyed a close working relationship with Caddick over the past four months and he thanked him for his support in helping Yorkshire through their crisis.

They had both agreed that it would be in everyone's best interests for Yorkshire to take over the responsibility of selling corporate hospitality and the club's marketing director, Ian Bishop, would now be doing that for the whole cricket stadium.

It was a big milestone in Yorkshire's history and came on top of the two parties agreeing joint use of shop facilities and a new ticket office.

Graves said he could not yet put a time on when Yorkshire would own Headingley because a lot of financial equity had to be raised first but it was part of his long term plan that they would do so.

Updated: 12:47 Friday, December 13, 2002