Football intelligence officers will be mingling in the crowd at the Headingley Test match tomorrow to weed out any known soccer hooligans who may be bent on causing trouble during the big showdown between England and South Africa, writes David Warner.

And also for the first time at Headingley, Leeds Police will have extensive close circuit television cameras sweeping the ground.

Inspector David Boyle, who will be in charge of police control during the Test, yesterday showed the Press around the monitoring room which is equipped with nine screens on which crowd behaviour can be closely observed.

"There is increasing evidence that soccer trouble makers have been attending Test matches and this has been borne out by the number of spectators who come to cricket matches in football strips," he said.

Inspector Boyle admitted, however, that the Police had no advance information that there could be trouble at Headingley this year.

"Police officers who are familiar with local football hooligans will be on hand to identify them if they are present and causing trouble,"he said.

"These people can be caught on video or they may be identified later from still photographs if necessary."

Inspector Boyle said Yorkshire CCC and the Police have worked very closely together to make sure that the crowd will be well behaved at the Test match and he added that stewarding will be supervised by the club.

At the England v Australia Test last summer, the back end of a pantomime horse was injured when it leapt over the boundary boards and galloped on to the field at close of play, but such costumes will be banned this year.

Total fancy dress will not be permitted, which means that carrots are also off the menu this time, but costumes will be allowed, provided they do not obstruct the view of other spectators.

"If the only way some people can enjoy cricket is by coming in some form of fancy dress then that is fine, as long as it is not offensive or obstructive," said Inspector Boyle.

A further measure to help prevent the sort of unruly behaviour that has broken out on the Western Terrace in the past is a complete ban on alcohol being brought into that part of the ground, but the existing four can rule will apply to other areas.

The settled weather has caused a further demand for match tickets and also for hospitality packages at the ground and the indoor school.

"The response for hospitality has been fantastic and we are already above last year's figure of £580,000," said Yorkshire's director of marketing, Mark Newton. "This is quite amazing because Australia are usually the main attraction when it comes to hospitality sales."

Ticket sales have now topped the £1m mark with about 50,000 having been sold up to yesterday afternoon, but there is still plenty of room on Thursday and Sunday with a few tickets left for Friday and Saturday.

Spectators buying a ticket for Sunday will get free admission on Monday if the game goes into a fifth and final day.

South Africa arrived at Headingley yesterday morning for a net session and several England players, including skipper Alec Stewart and Michael Atherton, turned up in the afternoon for voluntary nets.

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