Headingley set to be building site for Ashes

	A new-look Headingley is unlikely to be completed in time for the 2009 Ashes © Cricinfo Ltd

The 2009 Ashes Test at Headingley is set to be played on a building site after delays to renovation work at the ground. A new pavilion behind the bowler's arm at the Kirkstall Lane End, which will also include changing rooms and a press box, was due to be finished in time for Australia's visit but Yorkshire have been forced into a redesign of the plans.

The Times reports that the latest planning permission has yet to be filed and building work is not expected to begin until after the 2008 season. With a time scale of 55 to 60 weeks for the construction, the following summer's Test will be impacted.

"What we do with that area for the Ashes Test depends on how much of the building work has been finished," Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, told the Times. "It's likely that we will have a part-completed building, so we may have to cover the compound with advertising or put a big screen up at the front."

However, Yorkshire are confident they will meet all the requirements to host the Test including having at least 15,000 seats. Gordon Hollins, the ECB's head of venues, said. "The county have given us assurances that the venue will be fit to stage a major match."

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