Yorkshire stalwart Geoffrey Boycott has allayed fears his former county are in a financial crisis.

The ex-White Rose opener is a director on the board at Headingley, and has responded to reports they are having to tighten their belts to the extent of laying staff off in the near future.

Boycott said: “I don’t think there’s a major worry because nearly everybody’s going through a little hiccup.

“All the counties are struggling. I think Kent lost around £1.2 million in two years recently and Essex lost £700,000.

“I don’t think there will be a big problem as long as there is some careful management of things. And that’s by all counties, not just at Yorkshire.”

The White Rose county, whose chief executive Stewart Regan spoke of a £17m debt at the club’s annual general meeting back in March, will officially open their multi-million pound Carnegie Pavilion at next week’s Pakistan v Australia Test match.

Yorkshire are hoping a strong crowd over the five days of the neutral Test will boost their coffers, making up for the fact they will not stage another Test until South Africa visit England in 2012.

England will play Pakistan in a one-day international at Headingley this September, but the ground’s only international fixture next summer is a 50-over clash between England and Sri Lanka.

Boycott believes the bidding process for international matches is flawed.

He continued: “You can’t have counties bidding against each other for a Test match. The money will just escalate.

“There’s nine Test match grounds, but only seven Tests a year. Yet they (the England and Wales Cricket Board) are wanting all the Test match grounds to improve their facilities.

“Everybody has to borrow money as a result, and that means there is an overdraft and cash-flow problems.”

Yorkshire would have also hoped for strong ticket sales for their recent Friends Provident Twenty20 campaign, which totalled eight group matches.

But they only had two attendances above 5,000 – for matches against Derbyshire and Lancashire, when 10,200 turned up.

Boycott continued: “The people running it think they can make lots of money by playing more and more games, but they play too much. They’ll overkill it. Administrators always do in the end.

“Put it this way. What’s your favourite meal? If your mum made it for you on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, by Friday or Saturday you’d be fit to throw it back at her. It’s the same with Twenty20. It becomes tedious.”

Yorkshire complete their North Division campaign this weekend with trips to play Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge this evening and Derbyshire at the County Ground tomorrow.

• Geoffrey Boycott has just re-released his book, Play Cricket the Right Way. It is published by Great Northern books, priced at £9.99