By Graham Hardcastle
Mark Arthur is expecting England’s glorious World Cup triumph to have an immediate impact on interest levels within the county game.
Yorkshire’s chief executive, present at Lord’s on Sunday as an MCC member, has been speaking just days ahead of the start of this summer’s Vitality Blast.
The White Rose’s opening game is against 2017 champions Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Emerald Headingley on Friday night (6.30pm).
“I think it will have a positive impact on the crowds for the Blast,” said Arthur.
“Conversely, I think defeat would have had a negative impact on our normal gates.
“People may have thought, ‘We’ve built up to this event for four years, we’ve been number one in the world, but we’ve been let down. I’ll find something else to do on Friday night’.
“Now, I think on Friday night, Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire, which in any case would probably be our second largest home crowd behind the Roses, there will be a lot of youngsters wanting to come down and watch.
“I’m convinced it will help us.”
Sunday’s final was a day Arthur will never forget.
“I’ve been involved in sport at a professional level for 30 years, and that was special, really special,” he reflected. “The game was intriguing, but you won’t ever see anything like that finish again in your lives.
“I remember where I was in 1966, I remember where I was in 2003 for the Rugby World Cup win – watching my lad play Saturday morning football.
