Part of our job is to help these lads achieve the dream of playing for their country,” admits the Yorkshire head coach, Jason Gillespie, whose side will go into the first month of their County Championship title defence missing six players on international duty with England in the Caribbean. The price of success is a great big hole in his first team.

The three-Test series against West Indies starting on 13 April could, in theory at least, see Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Plunkett, along with the uncapped Adil Rashid and Adam Lyth, equal the record set by the sextet of Nottinghamshire cricketers who represented England against Australia in Sydney in 1887 – the most from one county.

That particular Ashes fixture – a 13-run victory – took place during the English winter, of course, with Arthur Shrewsbury (captain), Billy Barnes, Billy Gunn, William Scotton, Wilf Flowers and Mordecai Sherwin all back at Trent Bridge in time for the start of the season, although not before a tour-ending match between the Smokers and Non-Smokers in Melbourne.

Back in the present day Gillespie, who enters his fourth season at Headingley, will not be reunited with his England players until three games of the season have passed, with the captain, Andrew Gale, also suspended for the opener at Worcestershire on 12 April after last season’s verbals with Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince in the Roses fixture. While the ban still rankles, the head coach is more Zen about the international call-ups.

“We see it as a positive and have a belief in our system that we can bring players through for the first team,” Gillespie says. “Hopefully the guys that get the opportunities take them and so when our England players get back they make the selection decisions really difficult.”

Among the hopefuls is the former England Under-19 captain Will Rhodes, who took three wickets and compiled a composed 61 in the three-day win over MCC in Abu Dhabi last week and now looks set to start the season as an opener. The spot has become available due to Lyth’s England inclusion, with Gillespie tipping last season’s top-scorer as he vies with Jonathan Trott to become Alastair Cook’s partner at the top of the order come the first Test in Antigua.

“England have a tough decision to make. You don’t take a guy who’s played 49 Tests for the experience so if they go with Trotty that’s fine,” Gillespie says. “But I would love to see Lythy get the nod because he has performed exceptionally well. If he doesn’t, I hope it makes him even hungrier. If you keep banging the door down – and he’s hammering on it right now – then that opportunity has to come.”

With nearly 56 years having passed since an English leg-spinner took a five-wicket haul in a Test match – Lancashire’s Tommy Greenhough against India at Lord’s in 1959 – the inclusion of Rashid looks the most tantalising. In 2006 he burst on to the county scene as an 18-year-old with a match-winning six for 67 on debut in the second innings against Warwickshire at Scarborough that set tongues wagging. The good times rolled until 2011 when, two years after his last one-day cap for England, the returns dropped and his bowling average spent three seasons up in the 40s.

There was even talk of leaving Headingley at the start of 2013, with a frustrated Rash – as he is affectionately known at the club – going public in his criticism of captain Gale for failing to utilise him properly. No such words were spoken last summer, however, as his 46 wickets at 26 runs apiece helped secure that first title in 13 years. A settled home life, some advice from the coach and a more attacking role under Gale, it seems, did the trick.

“I see a calm, relaxed lad who is loving his cricket. Rash has got a fantastic cricket/life balance, he’s a new dad and husband and so these are exciting times for him, ” Gillespie says.

“Being hit used to be a big thing for him, so a while back I told him: ‘Shane Warne may be the greatest leg-spinner of all time but he’s also been hit for the most sixes in Test history.’

“He looked at me in disbelief and I continued: ‘Wrist-spinners go for runs – that’s inevitable. But focus on what you do well, which is to get it above the eye line, spin it hard and try and create chances – you are there to take wickets.’ Galey has to take credit too for the way he used him last summer.”

The reinvigoration of a player like Rashid, along with the impending arrival of his former chairman Colin Graves at the England and Wales Cricket Board, is why Gillespie, a four-times Ashes winner, saw his name floated as a candidate to replace Peter Moores after the dismal World Cup campaign. Moores lives on as head coach, however, while Gillespie has committed to joining Adelaide Strikers before Christmas alongside his county job. He is convinced, however, that the next England captain, be it soon in the one-day set-up or down the line in Test cricket, will come from Headingley.

“Joe Root is ready now. He may not get the opportunity for a while because I think Alastair Cook will do his thing for some time. But I’ve never understood why some people say Rooty needs to play more, needs more experience,” Gillespie adds.

“Graeme Smith captained South Africa after eight Tests and it didn’t do him a lot of harm. Rooty has played 22 Tests. Plus Michael Vaughan had played just 31 when he took the job. I wouldn’t look into that too much, he’s been around a bit now. I don’t think it would be the burden people think it would be. If he gets the chance I think he will embrace it and do a good job.”

In an era when so many football managers seemingly rail against international call-ups, it is refreshing to hear a head coach openly champion his troops for England duty. The knock-on effect from their success, Gillespie can cope with.