MORE THAN 10,000 fans turned up at Headingley last week to watch Yorkshire's Twenty20 Cup match against Nottinghamshire - even though it was almost certain that neither side would make it into the semi-finals.

If a similar number attend tomorrow's one-day international on the ground between England and Zimbabwe then Yorkshire will feel they have done a good job in selling the game.

The chance to see Michael Vaughan - if recovered from his back spasms - and Anthony McGrath in action together for England have helped get shut of quite a few tickets but it is still remarkable that an international match is unlikely to prove any more popular than a Twenty20 bash.

The new short form competition has been an outstanding success by any yardstick and it only goes to show how big an attraction county cricket can be if properly promoted by the Test and County Cricket Board.

Before the impact of Twenty20 Cup cricket had been digested, Yorkshire sent out signals that next year they would probably play home matches on their outgrounds which are smaller than Headingley and easier to fill.

But with over 9,000 coming to watch the Durham game and a thousand more than that polling up for the Notts match, Yorkshire have had to think again.

Only Scarborough of the outgrounds is able to cope with crowds of this size but just imagine the mayhem of such numbers trying to get to North Marine Road for a 5.30 start - and then finding themselves with nowhere to park.

Many Yorkshire fans who are centrally based would just not bother with the game, so it makes sense to keep the Twenty20 matches at Headingley, particularly as over £9m has been spent on redeveloping the venue.

There are few, if any, other occasions these days when Yorkshire can expect to play in front of 10,000 plus crowds at Headingley and it would be foolish not to make the most of such opportunities when they arise.

Yorkshire Phoenix performed pretty well in the Twenty20 Cup, despite their failure to make it beyond the Group stage, but they are now literally at rock bottom in the National League following last Sunday's home defeat at the hands of Leicestershire Foxes.

As in all of the other major competitions this season, Yorkshire made a promising start to their National League programme by gaining a comfortable win over Warwickshire Bears but since then they have suffered five consecutive defeats and now prop up the First Division table.

Unless there is a big improvement soon relegation looks a cast-iron certainty and a return to winning ways will not be easy on Sunday when they travel to The Oval to take on leaders Surrey who have been victorious in five of their six outings.

Yorkshire's current sequence of defeats is their worst since 1999 when they lost seven consecutive matches in the first year that the league was split into two divisions.

Their bad run came after starting off with five consecutive victories and six wins out of seven games but the sudden slump endangered their First Division status and it was only by pulling themselves together and winning their last two matches that they avoided the drop.

If Yorkshire don't pull themselves together sufficiently to gain promotion in the Championship - and I doubt if they will - it will be a double blow if they drop into the Second Division of the National League for the first time.