Boycott elected Yorkshire county president

London: Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott has been elected president of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club by an overwhelming majority.

The club said after the election at the club`s annual general meeting at Headingley Carnegie Sunday that former England captain Michael Vaughan had been co-opted on to the management board and that Joe Sayers had been made first team vice captain for the coming season. Of the proxy vote 1,115 members were in favour of Boycott, a former Yorkshire captain, being installed as president and only 109 against - a majority in favour of 91.09 per cent - while the vote in the hall was virtually unanimous, with only three against. Boycott replaces fellow Yorkshire great and former England captain Raymond Illingworth. Boycott told the members he was delighted to be voted in as president, and he thanked everyone for their support. "The only thing that really matters to the membership is that Yorkshire do well in Championship cricket. The team can play well in Twenty20 and 40-over cricket, but if they play badly in the Championship they will let you down," said Boycott. Boycott said that promotion to the first division of the championship was essential this coming season. "The club will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2013, and in our anniversary year we should be striving to win the championship. We cannot do that in the second division. We have got to get out of it. The young players have to perform, and some of them didn`t do so last season when they let themselves and the Club down. That has to stop, and they have to help to get promotion, because Championship cricket is part of our heritage," he said. IANS