Jason Gillespie admits he faces a nightmare situation ahead of an Ashes series he believes will be a lot closer than recent times.

Yorkshire’s first-team coach is a true blue Australian, no doubt about that. A fast bowler who served his country with distinction, ‘Dizzy’ took 402 wickets for Australia in an international career spanning 1996 to 2006.

Gillespie is desperate to see his compatriots, including big mate and current national coach Darren Lehmann, prosper over the next couple of months. But for that to happen, four of his Yorkshire players – Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Tim Bresnan and Joe Root – will face disappointment and he does not want to see that.

England start the defence of the urn they have held since 2009 in Brisbane on Thursday and Gillespie, who has just returned from a holiday in Australia, admitted: “It’s a horrible situation to be in, it really is!

“Listen, I’m an Aussie through and through and love to see them perform strongly. That will always ring true. Having said that, I’m involved in the English game with Yorkshire, who are my priority. I want to see our players taste success.

“I know that’s probably getting splinters in my backside but I want to see Joe, Jonny and Gaz score a mountain of runs and Tim come back from his injury and be a part of a winning team.

“I don’t want our players to go and get their backsides kicked. I want them to experience success. But it’s a really difficult call because, at the end of the day, I’m an Aussie who loves seeing his country do well.”

It is fair to say that expectations of a closer series than England’s 3-0 summer success on home soil are widespread.

Australia performed better in England than expected and Alastair Cook’s tourists have not had the best of warm-ups since touching down in Perth last month.

“I certainly think it will be a little bit closer than people think, although England deservedly start as favourites,” said Gillespie.

“They’ll leave no stone unturned, no doubt about that. You can see that in their selection of a tall fast-bowling battery in anticipation of very different surfaces to what they have just played on over here.

“There will be more bounce and carry over in Australia and it will be interesting to see how things go.

“I’m excited for our Yorkshire players who are part of it. I really look forward to seeing them get opportunities and perform strongly.”