A final decision on whether to loan Yorkshire £9million to help them buy Headingley cricket ground will now be taken by Leeds City Council's Executive Board at a behind-closed-doors meeting on Friday.

The possibility of a Friday meeting was revealed in yesterday's Evening Press and it was decided to go ahead with it after a new deal had been hammered out by legal advisers for Yorkshire and Headingley's owners - the Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company.

The council's officers have also been involved in the new negotiations and Friday's meeting means that Yorkshire members will now learn at their extraordinary general meeting on Christmas Eve whether the loan bid has been successful.

The members' meeting has been called so that Yorkshire can give formal approval to buying the ground before December 31.

If they are unable to do so, then the England and Wales Cricket Board will end the staging agreement which guarantees Headingley international cricket until 2019.

Provided everything goes according to plan, Yorkshire will be in a position to reveal shortly the name of their new chief executive who is expected to take up his post early in the New Year.

Updated: 10:22 Wednesday, December 21, 2005