Geoff Boycott played the key role in bringing Pakistan Test star Younis Khan to Yorkshire, and it was largely through his efforts that the one-year deal was clinched.

And it was the former York-shire and England batting maestro who also first suggested that the county club should contact the ethnic business community to see if they were willing to provide funding for Younis.

That move resulted in generous sponsorship from ABDN, The Minority Ethnic Enter-prise Network, many of whose members come from the Bradford area.

Boycott joined the Yorkshire management board last March and his work in bringing You-nis to Headingley Carnegie Stadium has been praised by the club's chief executive Stewart Regan.

"On behalf of both York-shire and myself I would like to pay tribute to Geoffrey for the major part he has played in helping to secure the services of Younis," said Regan.

"It was Geoffrey who first proposed to the board that we should consider looking to Pakistan for an overseas player and he gave us a list of people to look at - with Younis top of the list as far as batsmen were concerned.

"Geoffrey's suggestion that we should approach the ethnic business community also made the sponsorship deal possible and were are very grateful to him."

Meanwhile, Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves was expected to be in touch with Sussex today to finalise the deal which will bring Chris Adams to Yorkshire as captain.

If all goes according to plan, Adams could be attending a press conference at Heading-ley later this week.

It is believed that the long-serving Sussex captain has been offered a four-year contract by Yorkshire.

Sussex confirmed on Friday that they were considering a request from Adams to be freed from his contract, which has one year left to run.

Sussex offered him terms until 2008, but Adams sees his future at Headingley and has already started to discuss Sussex as part of his past.

"I had nine amazing years at Sussex and I think I played my part in the success we had," he said.

"But when Yorkshire made their offer I had to do some serious thinking.

"The most important thing for me was developing a career in the game once my playing days were over. I have a terrific opportunity to further my career beyond actually playing and that is very important."

The terms of the offer from Yorkshire remain largely undisclosed, but Adams has been offered a management position, which he sought but was denied at Sussex, where there was no suitable vacancy.

Adams led Sussex to the County Championship title in 2003 and again this year.