MARK ARTHUR has told Yorkshire’s members he expects the Hundred to be a “roaring success”.

The county’s chief executive revealed some interesting details about the ECB’s new competition, which starts next summer, at the county’s annual general meeting.

Arthur, along with chairman Robin Smith, finance director Paul Hudson and director of cricket Martyn Moxon, all updated members ahead of an exciting 2019 both on and off the field at Emerald Headingley.

New president Geoff Cope spoke with pride and humour after being elected in as the new president, replacing Richard Hutton, who was made an honorary life member.

Hudson told the audience that Yorkshire’s net debt stood at £20.6million and that £1.8m was repaid in 2018 and £3.7m is due to be repaid in 2019 when Headingley hosts four World Cup matches and an Ashes Test.

The Hundred has had many critics, but Arthur said: “Having been slightly sceptical of the competition and the format, I’m now fully engaged and think it will be a roaring success.

“Emerald Headingley will host four matches per season. Each match will be events similar to one-day or T20 internationals.

“There will be a player draft this October televised live on BBC and Sky. Player salaries will be banded from £30,000 up to £125,000 for the five-week period. Each squad can have up to three non-England qualified players.

“Centrally contracted Test players will be allocated to each team. Each team will get either one or two players for the first few matches only. Thereafter, they return to Test Match duty.

"The players are drafted by a three person panel for each team, which will probably comprise of the head coach, the director of cricket and the general manager. They will supported by an analyst.

“Martyn Moxon will have the role of director of cricket and Andy Dawson is to be the general manager.

“Yorkshire will compensated for the temporary loss of their services.

“The head coach is yet to be appointed, but is likely to be one of international pedigree. That appointment will be made by the new team board.

“Myself and Tim Bostock, the Durham chief executive, are the initial board directors. There will also be one independent. The other person on that group to make that decision is Martyn as director of cricket.

“That group will also be responsible for the appointment of support staff.

"Counties will be compensated for any staff or players taken from them for that period.

"We do not have a name for the new team yet, but we are partnered with Durham. The only county without a partner county or counties is Lancashire.

“Each team will play each other once, but will play its nearest rival home and away.

“It is designed to bring new people to cricket whilst retaining as much core support as possible. The objective is to get as many people interested in the game, and BBC coverage will certainly help.

“There will also be a women’s Hundred. Each team will have the same name and play seven matches in total rather than eight.

"Most of the matches will be played at smaller grounds in densely populated areas, although there may be one double header per team at the international ground.

"Huge investment will be going into the development of girls and women’s cricket over the next five years as it becomes fully professional.

“There will be either eight or 10 professional women’s teams in the country, and we hope to host one of them. Meetings are being held over the next six weeks when we will learn if we are to be part of the new set-up.”

A knock-on effect of the Hundred is that Scarborough will host two 50-over matches from 2020-24 alongside the two current County Championship fixtures.

Finance-wise, Hudson admitted: “We’ve talked for a while about turning the corner, and we are now turning that corner. This next year our finances will take an enormous step forward.”

When asked by one member when he thinks the debt will be repaid in full, he said it will either be “nil or as low as the club wants to take it by the late 2020s”.

Smith paid tribute to the work done by those involved in Yorkshire’s much-envied youth structure.

“There are at present more than 800 young cricketers in the pathway scheme. Five years ago, that figure was 320,” he said.

“From that we can conclude the future is one of great promise.”

Arthur also spoke of how the Yorkshire Academy will play their Yorkshire Premier League North match against Sheriff Hutton Bridge on July 20 at Headingley in order to give them early exposure to the venue as they develop.

A new joint venture company with Leeds Rugby, who share Headingley, has been set up to concentrate on hospitality in the new stand, which opens this summer.

That is called Headingley North/South Stand Ltd, with Andy Dawson, Yorkshire’s commercial director, taking a lead role. He has handed over some of his current duties as a result of this and his GM role for the Hundred.

Yorkshire members will be given the opportunity to tour the new stand on Saturday July 13, the first day of the Championship match against Somerset.

While it will be first used for the ODI between England and Pakistan in May and then the World Cup, the project will not be fully completed until early August as work takes place on the rugby side dressing rooms.

Cricket wise, Moxon confirmed that England’s Adil Rashid would return to Yorkshire today to have his fitness assessed.

The county’s medical team will oversee his recovery from the shoulder injury which has ruled him out of the first two Championship matches against Notts and Hampshire.

He is expected to be fit to play a part in the Royal London one-day Cup, starting in mid-April, prior to the World Cup.

With the summer getting underway on Sunday when Yorkshire tackle Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities in a three-day friendly at Weetwood, Moxon also said: “The squad we have assembled now has huge potential.

"There’s a good mixture of youth and experience.

“There’s still work to be done, but the environment we’ve got now is healthy. We have a fantastic group of lads who want to do well.”

And last but not least, new president Cope was thrilled to follow in the recent footsteps of Dickie Bird, John Hampshire and Hutton.

He said: “In my 60 years plus VAT, a lot of it has been Yorkshire cricket. To be given the highest office in Yorkshire cricket, I am extremely proud.

“I think of two people who I lost far too early, my mother at 15 and my father at 29. They would be extremely proud.

“In fact, Dad, who drove a mini looking through the steering wheel and was 5ft 7, may have reached himself to 5ft 8 at this news!”