The future of Test cricket at Headingley was thrown into doubt yesterday when Leeds City Council again put off a decision to grant Yorkshire a £9m loan to buy the ground.

Now, frantic efforts are being made by Yorkshire to get a last-gasp deal before the end of the year.

It had been expected that securing the loan would be a mere formality, but the council's executive board decided yesterday the deal was unacceptable in its present form. They instructed their officers to have further negotiations with Yorkshire and the ground's owners, Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company (CFAC).

Yorkshire have already called a special general meeting of their members on Christmas Eve to rush the ground purchase through so that the county club would become owners by January 1.

Yorkshire's new 15-year deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board for the staging of Test cricket at Headingley is conditional upon them buying the ground by 2006, and it will be scrapped if Yorkshire cannot find the cash.

If that should happen, Yorkshire would have to try to secure a three-year agreement, but chairman Robin Smith only last week warned members that there would be a real danger of Headingley losing next year's Test match between England and Pakistan - a game for which thousands of tickets have already been sold.

The council now wants Yorkshire to be able to put the outcome of revised negotiations with Leeds CFAC to their members for approval on Christmas Eve and if these are successful then the council's executive board will hold their own extraordinary meeting before the December 31 deadline.

Geoff Cope, Yorkshire's director of operations, spoke to Smith, who is on holiday in South Africa, after yesterday's decision, and also contacted the county' chief executive, Colin Graves, and finance director, Brian Bouttell.

"The three of us will hold urgent talks and we will also speak to Robin again," said Cope. "The priority now is to arrange talks with Leeds CFAC and the Council just as soon as possible in order to arrive at a satisfactory outcome."

* James Whitaker has left Leicestershire after the director of cricket role was made redundant at Grace Road.

His departure ends a long association with the county as a player, captain, general manager and director of cricket.

As well as leading the club to county championship titles in 1996 and 1998 during his time as captain, the highlight of his reign as director of cricket was Leicestershire's triumph in the Twenty20 Cup last year.

However, changes in the management structure will see the Foxes appoint a senior coach.

Chairman Neil Davidson said: ''James Whitaker has made a huge contribution to this club as a player, captain, general manager and director of cricket.

''The board would like to thank him for all that he has done and wish him well in the future. We are sure that he will want to continue in cricket and again be successful.''