``Disinterest in Pakistan'' is, in the event, the reason being given for the fact that with less than 24 hours to go for the start of the second Cornhill Test between the two sides, only 7,000 tickets have been sold.

``Despite Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, Pakistan has failed to capture the public's imagination,'' said Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell.

Headingley, funnily enough, has never really taken to the Pakistanis. Only 53,817 watched Pakistan at the Headingley Test of 1992 compared to 70,450 against Australia the following year and 67,500 for the South Africans in 1994 and 64,500 for West Indies last summer.

''The figures suggest that Pakistan Tests are not that popular,'' said Hassell. ''We do have a large Pakistan community down the road in Bradford but they are obviously are not cricket-minded be- cause that is not borne out in the figures.

Yorkshire has already reduced the capacity for this Test, after taking every third row out of the notorious Western Terrace - scene of crowd trouble at recent one-day matches - to allow security to ac- cess the area better.

But it would, perhaps, be fair to look at the other side of the coin. While England looked like a class act against India earlier this season, the first Test against Pakistan at Lord's has shown them up as considerably less than international standards. The English bowlers struggled against the likes of Saeed Anwar and Inzamam ul Haq, while the batsmen were rendered clueless by Akram, Younis and Mush- taq. Leading to the suspicion that the English public is not ready to come out in droves to support a team that appears to have no hope of winning.

The wicket at Headingley - unless the groundsman turns it all around before the game begins tomorrow - is green and grassy, and likely to aid seam and swing to a considerable extent. What this could mean is that while the Pakistan speedsters - all three of them, for Ata ur Rehman is fast developing into a good understudy for the more famous spearheads - are likely to revel in the conditions, the Eng- land bowlers will also find a fair degree of penetrative edge, which they failed to find on the placid Lord's pitch.

But where Pakistan will have the edge, one suspects, is in the presence of Mushtaq Ahmed. There is none of the hype surrounding him that one associates with Shane Warne - but in his own quiet fashion, Mushie has been establishing his reputation as perhaps on par with the Aussie ace. The Pakistan leggie has thus far taken 34 wickets in his last four Tests - a Warne-like performance that should prove worrying to the English batsmen.