by David Warner

Yorkshire's office staff have been swept off their feet in the rush for tickets for the Headingley showdown after England overpowered South Africa by eight wickets at Trent Bridge yesterday to level the series 1-1 with only one Test still to play.

That epic encounter begins at Headingley on Thursday week, August 6, and a match which had threatened to be a financial flop now looks like drawing capacity crowds to urge England to victory.

Poor England performances in the first three Tests, plus weeks of dismal weather, combined to keep ticket sales for Headingley at a disappointing level and Yorkshire officials were faced with the embarrassing prospect of the ground being less than half full for game of little interest.

But England's brave fightback to save the Old Trafford Test threw them a lifeline which they have grabbed with both hands and now the country has gone cricket crazy.

"The phones have been going bananas all day," said Yorkshire's delighted chief executive Chris Hassell yesterday.

"My wife tried to ring me in the morning and just couldn't get through because all lines were blocked by people wanting tickets.

"And once it became certain England were going to win at Trent Bridge, queues started to build up outside the ticket office. The demand is so great that we are having to draft in extra staff to cope with the situation."

Around 32,000 seats had been sold up to last night, netting around three-quarters of a million pounds.

Headingley's capacity now stands at 16,000 with about 10,000 seats having been sold for Friday and 12,000 for Saturday.

"There is still room on all days but seats are going fast and I would advise those still without tickets to book as soon as they can," said Hassell.

Yorkshire have extended the office opening hours at Headingley to 7.0pm and it will also be open at the weekend.

"I am delighted for England and for English cricket with the way things have gone," said Hassell. "At long last we have shown that we are a match for South Africa."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.