YORKSHIRE came out fighting last night as they battled to stop Durham replacing them on the Test roster.

With English cricket chiefs angered by low crowds and fan trouble at high-profile Headingley matches in recent years, Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell insisted his county would stage a Test to be proud of.

The English Cricket Board were furious when just 9,000 people attended a NatWest Series encounter between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley last month - two days before 16,000 watched the host nation meet India at Durham's Riverside.

The efforts at the Riverside over recent years have been rewarded with a Test against Zimbabwe next May - placing a large question mark over Headingley's place as one of the country's elite six grounds.

But Hassell said: "Durham have done well - but Yorkshire is the biggest county of all with the greatest traditions. If you met the man on the moon and said you came from Yorkshire, you'd finish up talking about cricket.

"Yorkshire and cricket go together. We've won the championship more times than anyone else, and there's too much history here for it to disappear.

"Headingley was in need of a cash injection but we've spent £10m on the ground and it's looking good.

"We're opening the West and East Stands, and it's our opportunity to show the cricketing world how much Yorkshire has changed in the last 12 months.

"We want to prove the doubters wrong and show that Yorkshire is a strong county that deserves to host Test matches."

Since hosting its first Test match in 1899, Headingley has been the venue of some of cricket's most historic games - including England's dramatic defeat of Australia in 1981 and Geoff Boycott's 100th first-class century four years earlier.

But the dubious quality of Leeds wickets - England's Test with the West Indies two years ago was over by 4.10pm on the second day - allied to inclement Yorkshire weather and crowd problems of varying descriptions have put Headingley under the spotlight.

Hassell treats such criticism with disdain and is adamant the ground will show itself to be worthy of its Test status in the next five days.

He said: "We were unfortunate with the one-day international because the weather was bad and there was another match in the area, at Durham, soon afterwards.

"That's all in the past now and the tickets are going very well for the Test. We're creeping up to the magic £1m mark and we fully expect that to be reached.

"We always feel under pressure to prove ourselves because your last performance is always the one you're remembered by.

"But we don't feel under any more pressure than usual and we're confident we'll have a Test match to savour."