Yorkshire CCC's 9,000 members are being circulated with new draft rules which they will be asked to approve at another extraordinary meeting of the club at Headingley on December 7.

If the proposals go through - and it is almost certain that they will - the district system will be abolished and Yorkshire will be run permanently by a management board instead of the general committee, which is being disbanded.

Initially, the board will consist of the same four members who took control of the club in the summer - president Robin Smith, chairman Geoff Cope, chief executive Colin Graves and marketing director Brian Bouttell.

There will be no elections to the board until the annual meeting of 2004 but at next year's annual meeting in March a new members' committee will be appointed which will be a sub-committee of the board.

It will consist of eight representatives, four to be elected by the club's members and four by the board. Its main features will be to maintain communication with members, to represent the club in the hosting of matches and to promote a relationship with Yorkshire commerce and industry and other potential backers.

President Smith said: "The board rather than committee concept is meant to bring in good conventional corporate government. What we are aiming for is to have a board which has on it a balance of skills and experience in accordance with the club's requirements and this obligation will be enshrined in the new rules."

The new draft rules have been unanimously approved by the general committee and this is expected to be the last important decision the 12-strong body takes before it goes out of existence.

Updated: 11:40 Tuesday, October 29, 2002