Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale is tipping his county colleague Gary Ballance to play in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane on November 21-25.

Ballance is in competition with Michael Carberry, Ben Stokes and Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow for England’s problem No 6 spot.

But Cleckheaton left-hander Gale, who was speaking at Idle Cricket Club as part of Yorkshire County Cricket Club’s meet and greet tour around the Broad Acres, said: “Gary Ballance was ‘Mr Consistency’ for us last season, scoring over 1,000 runs at an average of 50 and also shone at twenty20 cricket.

“I think he will get the nod to bat No 6 at Brisbane, and it has been great to see how Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance have developed over the past two or three years.

“Joe may have been an outside bet for a place in India last winter but has taken to test cricket like a duck to water, and it would be great to see that trio and Tim Bresnan representing England this winter.”

Gale, who flew out to Australia yesterday to play grade cricket with Melbourne club Dandenong, added: “I spoke to Tim on Monday and he has been bowling at 100 per cent but the first Test may be a bit too soon for him.

“However, he should be ready for the second Test onwards, and reverse swing plays such an important part in Test matches these days.”

Gale also praised Yorkshire’s youngsters for their efforts last season.

He said: “Matthew Fisher was only 15 when he made his debut and Will Rhodes played quite a few matches aged 18.”

Yorkshire not only have four players in the Ashes squad but they also have Alex Lees in the England Performance squad this winter and five with England under-19s, who are facing Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates next month in a one-day series.

Fisher, Karl Carver, Rhodes, Josh Shaw and Jonny Tattersall are in the under-19s squad, while Jared Warner and Mosun Hussain are with England under-17s, who will train at Loughborough this winter before having a training camp in Sri Lanka over Easter.

Yorkshire’s chief executive officer Mark Arthur added: “In one week this year, we had 11 players representing England.”