The indoor nets at Headingley will resemble a ghost town in the New Year when a host of Yorkshire players head abroad to prepare for the new county season.

Five White Rose players are already away on full international duty, and will continue to be in January, while Dan Hodgson, Azeem Rafiq, Moin Ashraf, Liam Plunkett, Ben Coad and Jack Brooks are all heading to Australia to play club cricket.

They join captain Andrew Gale and batsman Jack Leaning, who travelled Down Under earlier in the winter.

Junior professional fast bowler James Wainman is also travelling to Johannesburg in South Africa.

“We fully back the lads heading south for the winter,” said director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon.

“Every winter we encourage lads to go and play cricket in the Southern hemisphere. It is ideal preparation for the new season. Nothing beats playing on grass pitches, in good conditions, against quality players.

“You can do all the training in the world in the gym, which is important, but you can’t replicate match conditions in the indoor nets.

“The players will also gain life experiences. Grade cricket in Australia, in particular, is a hard environment and very competitive.

“Most weeks you are coming up against first-class players from the domestic competition, and when they have a free weekend you will get Test players playing.

“Also, being English out there is also another challenge the lads will face. There will be plenty of banter on the field.”

Jonny Bairstow will move from the Ashes tour to the England Lions tour of Sri Lanka with Alex Lees next month, while Karl Carver, Matthew Fisher, Will Rhodes, Josh Shaw and Jonny Tattersall will all travel to the UAE for the Under 19s World Cup.

Under 17s duo Mosun Hussain and Jared Warner are also scheduled to travel to Sri Lanka for an England Development Programme training camp at Easter.

In all, there are 22 Yorkshire players of different levels plying their trade abroad.

International duty: Jonny Bairstow (England and England Lions), Gary Ballance, Tim Bresnan, Joe Root (all England), Alex Lees (England Lions), Kane Williamson (New Zealand), Karl Carver, Matthew Fisher, Will Rhodes, Josh Shaw, Jonny Tattersall (all England under 19s), Mosun Hussain, Jared Warner (England under 17s).

Australian club cricket: Andrew Gale (Dandenong CC, Melbourne), Dan Hodgson (Mount Waverley CC, Melbourne), Azeem Rafiq (Dandenong West CC, Melbourne), Moin Ashraf (East Torrens CC, Adelaide), Ben Coad (Darren Lehmann Academy, Adelaide), Liam Plunkett (Adelaide University CC, Adelaide), Jack Brooks (Willetton Dragons CC, Perth), Jack Leaning (Sutherland CC, Sydney).

South African club cricket: James Wainman (Wanderers CC, Johannesburg).