FOUR candidates will contest the two vacancies which will arise on Yorkshire's members' committee in March.

Seeking to gain places on the committee are: Robert Hilliam, from Scarborough; Rob Lolley, from Leeds; Stephen Mann, from Ilkley, and David Tunbridge, from Chesterfield.

Both Hilliam and Tunbridge had spells on the old general committee while Mann is seeking election to the members' committee for the first time.

The vacancies come about because Sid Fielden is to retire at the club's annual meeting at Headingley on March 12 and Simon Parsons has decided to quit because he believes the committee does not have any real powers.

Four representatives on the committee are elected and four are appointed and one of their most important tasks in 2005 will be to try to boost membership which has dropped to around 6,500.

But Yorkshire know that the best way to increase membership is for the team to start winning and director of cricket David Byas appreciates the importance of making successful bids for promotion in both the Championship and the totesport League.

Even though membership is down, the Twenty-20 Cup competition is bringing spectators flocking through the gates and the hope is that many of the youngsters who make up the crowds will begin a lifelong interest in the game.

Yorkshire chief executive Colin Graves continues to look at the various options open to the club for buying Headingley cricket ground from owner Paul Caddick and it is now almost a year since Yorkshire first stated they were confident of taking over the ground "within months".

Updated: 11:29 Wednesday, January 05, 2005