Just more than half the tickets for the first day of the third Test against India, which starts on Thursday, have been sold.

The poor sales have prompted the England and Wales Cricket Board to order a meeting with Yorkshire chiefs on Friday to enquire as to why there will be so many empty seats.

But Cope said he remained convinced Headingley was the best venue outside London for Test cricket.

"The record at Headingley over the years has been good. I think we are second to London," he said.

"We are not worried that Test status will be removed. We want Test matches and the England team consider this to be very much home for them.

"We have �11m ground redevelopments which we are pressing ahead with, and they are very much geared with Test cricket in mind."

Cope stressed that there was only a handful of tickets left for the Friday and Saturday of the Test, and added that Yorkshire crowds had traditionally tended to pay on the day.

"Obviously we are only too aware of the situation. We are making lots of effort with advertising," he added.

Already struggling financially, Yorkshire desperately need to keep hosting Tests at Headingley to generate extra revenue.

Low crowds have already been an issue this season - club officials came under fire when only 9,000 of 15,000 tickets were sold for the one-day match between England and Sri Lanka in early July.

Colin Graves, one of the new management team which took over the club on Monday, said he was still hopeful the ground would be fairly full.

"We are having a big push to get more people here," he told told BBC Radio Five Live's Yorkshire Uncovered programme.

"The one disappointment is Thursday which is 45% full at the moment.

He added: "The ECB are very relaxed about it but they just want to see if things are OK. I wouldn't say we are under threat at all.

Weather hope

"If we get some good weather, people in Yorkshire tend to leave it late and pay on the gate. They don't pre-book tickets.

The Headingley Test is the third in the series, which England lead 1-0 with two to play.