Jason Gillespie: Australia Start as Ashes Favourites in England - and Rightly so

Jason Gillespie's phone rings with a number he does not recognise flashing up on the screen. "G'Day, mate. It's Dad's Army here," says a gruff voice at the other end of the line. Instantly he recognises the drawl of his former team-mate Darren Lehmann, head coach of Australia and larrikin in excelsis. "I've got some pretty grumpy players here after what you said about them ... " (Johnson Relishes Ashes Confrontation With Stokes)

The faux tension lasts for a split second before the chuckling begins. Lehmann has known Gillespie ever since he walked into the South Australia dressing room 22 years ago and is fully aware that the former fast bowler's recent headline-grabbing comments about his touring geriacticos have been spun like a Shane Warne ripper out of the footmarks. For Gillespie, the current head coach of Yorkshire who has enjoyed his fair share of column inches already this summer after being interviewed for the England job , the explanation is pretty simple. (Gillespie Defends Dad's Army Comment)

"It certainly caused a stir, didn't it? But it was very simple, I was asked the question as to how, if I was in the England camp, would I try to beat Australia," he says during our time together at Headingley. "Now I saw no glaring weaknesses in the Australian team. Their batting is sound, the seam bowling is quality, the spin is very good but the opposition still need to find a way in. So I looked at the ages and thought England could target that. They have 10 players over 30 years of age, how can England use that to their advantage? (England's Spanish Break Doesn't Bother Lehmann)

"So if I was England coach, I'd keep those guys out there for a long time. If Chris Rogers is out there for two days then has 10 minutes to strap on his pads and get his feet moving, could that work to England's advantage? Brad Haddin is 38 this year, so test his fitness. The same with Michael Clarke, he's had back problems; test him out and keep him in the field. Ryan Harris, it's well documented he has a dodgy knee, so why wouldn't you try to keep that guy on the ground bowling lots of spells? It's just common sense. So I was asked a question and I'm not the sort of person who dodges them. I didn't say anything that isn't true."

For all the angry Australians on social media asking him to hand back his passport - one can only presume they remained silent and cross-armed after all 402 of his international wickets as part of that great side - Gillespie is not rowing back on this analysis. It is the same plain speaking that led to the 40-year-old guiding Yorkshire to their first County Championship title in 13 years in 2014 and earned him a shot at the England job in May, before eventually missing outto his lesser-known, but more decorated, compatriot Trevor Bayliss. (Australia Ease to Ashes Tour Opening Win)

There is no bitterness about the rejection.

The Australian bowlers versus Alastair Cook will be fascinating and could well shape the series.

"It was so humbling to be invited to interview. The England job is one of the biggest in world cricket, so to be spoken about in those circles was something I'll remember for ever," he says.

"I walked out of our conversations just thinking that, regardless of what happens, England will be in a pretty good place going forward. They have the right people in charge - I spoke to [Andrew] Strauss and the chief executive, Tom Harrison, and both were very impressive. They have a vision and a drive to make it work. I didn't get the job, ultimately, but I can stick it on my resume and the experience stays with me."

It leaves Gillespie happily continuing his job at Headingley, which he will combine with a role at Adelaide Strikers in the winter, and with something of a foot in both camps before this summer's Ashes series, one which he hopes will result in England continuing to ride the wave of positivity witnessed already this summer in one-day cricket.

"It was crying out for someone to break the shackles," he replies when asked for his take on the recent series win over New Zealand . "It makes you wonder what prevented them from doing that before. You can mull it over but the reality now is there is an air of freedom with how they are playing and, as a cricket fan, I want to see that. And, of course, I expect Australia to match that and we get a great series."

Having been taken to the hearts of cricket supporters in Yorkshire - both during his two seasons as overseas professional until 2007 and his three and a half as coach - Gillespie takes enormous pride at seeing his players represent England. Mention Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Adam Lyth, Liam Plunkett or Adil Rashid and his face lights up instantly. Equally, however, those 10 years wearing the Baggy Green for Australia mean he is not the naturalised pom some are calling him back home; inquire as to how Australia can win their first Ashes series on English soil in 14 years and you get similarly forthright replies.

"The Australian bowlers versus Alastair Cook will be fascinating and could well shape the series," he says. "They have implemented a gameplan to him in the past and I don't see that changing. You will hardly see him play a cut or pull, or nudge one away off his hips, because Australia will be ruthless in their line to him - just on off-stump or outside. They know that if they get something off the pitch or through the air they will ask questions of his technique and if he's not spot-on with movements he will be found out.

Cook should go into the series with a positive outlook as he's scored Ashes runs in the past but Australia will believe they have the wood over him."

While a former fast bowler himself - he grins when proclaiming Mitchell Johnson "has a mental edge" over the home side following his 37-wicket Ashes series in 2013-14 - it is the subject of England and spin bowling that gets Gillespie really fired up. Cook's side remain, in his opinion, too timid in how they play the turning ball and their own selection in that department. For the first time since Warne retired in 2007, Australia have the edge, with Nathan Lyon 30 matches deeper into his Test career.

"Lyon will play a big role for Australia and that is somewhere where England simply have to be proactive - they cannot let him settle," he says. "That's where England missed a massive trick in the Test series against New Zealand; they let Mark Craig bowl and go at 1.8 runs an over in the first innings at Headingley and it played a big part in why they lost.

"That's just unacceptable batting. There is not an off-spinner in world cricket who should go at under two runs an over, so they cannot let Lyon settle into a groove. They need to put pressure back on him. You can be sure as hell that Australia will do that to Moeen Ali. They will go hard and make Cook go back to Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Ben Stokes and get them bowling lots of spells."

Should the leg-spinner Rashid, who took 46 wickets in Yorkshire's title win last summer, therefore get the nod instead? "Yes. And the reason I would look to push for Rashid - and forget the county allegiance - is that you have Root and Lyth who can bowl off-spin. Why wouldn't you have a spinner who turns it both ways? Is that harsh on Moeen Ali? It probably is and if he was top six you could look at it differently but the fact is he's at No8, and what is best for the side would be to have a leg-spinner to complement the four quicks and the two lads who can bowl decent off-breaks. But I just can't see England going down that path."

Jimmy Anderson is a person who winds Australia up like no one else I have seen in cricket

Gillespie, of course, played with Warne, the greatest leg-spinner to draw breath as part of that fabled attack in which the now Yorkshire coach shared the new ball with Glenn McGrath for 58 of his 71 Tests - with support from one of Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Damien Fleming or Michael Kasprowicz - and was part of three Ashes-winning teams, starting in England in 1997.

"When you have those sorts of bowlers at the other end you know you are part of something special," he says when recalling the glory years. "Warnie and Glenn both attacked and defended at the same time, so I think opposition saw me as an opportunity to score runs and be a little bit looser against me. I always liked that because it was an opportunity to take wickets. There was no doubt bowling at the opposite end to those guys allowed me to do my thing."

Were the team that won a record 16 consecutive Test matches under Steve Waugh the greatest of all time? "It's hard to compare eras, it opens a can of worms. But we would have been highly competitive in any era - and I'll leave it at that," he replies diplomatically, before adding with a glint in the eye. "You can't compare us to the great Yorkshire side of the 1960s, of course."

Gillespie became the first Australian Test cricketer of indigenous heritage when he made his debut against West Indies in Sydney in 1996 aged 21 - a fact that did not garner public attention until four years later - and believed he was always destined to wear the Baggy Green cap, having been given his first cricket bat aged six by his late father, Neil, himself a prominent activist for aboriginal legal rights.

"My dad was a wonderful man. His nickname was 'Have a chat'. He was so talkative he could probably talk underwater with a mouthful of marbles. He taught me how to bat and always told me to play straight and watch the ball. He never got involved beyond my early years though; he handed me over to the coaches. Ever since I can remember I knew we were of indigenous heritage. It was just what we were. We were proud of it but I wasn't one to sing from the rooftops and beat my chest. I had no idea I was the first and it wasn't until years after my debut the media cottoned on. Maybe it was naivety but I was sure there would have been lots before me; we're all Australians after all.

"I saw my Baggy Green cap as a symbol of my journey as a player. Mine started aged six with my mum or dad taking me to the net sessions, playing in the driveway with me, ferrying me to games around the state, so that whole accumulation of hard work and sacrifice is what the Baggy Green is about for me. I got my cap before the presentation ceremonies started happening - it was just there in my kit bag. The night before, when I knew I was playing, I just kept putting it on and looking in the mirror. I sat there in my hotel with it on watching the telly and kept going back to check how it looked. And as I did I reflected on my journey to that moment and what it meant to everyone, parents, family, everyone who knows how hard you have worked."

With all the prestige that goes with wearing the Baggy Green is it not high time the current team, who will be a far cry from the smiling New Zealand side who toured before them, ditched the on-field verbals that, for some, soured their victory in the World Cup final? "You can't say Australia don't play fair," he replies. "We Aussies don't shy away from playing hard but you can do that within the spirit of cricket. People who say otherwise are ill-informed."

How about Clarke's instruction to Jimmy Anderson to "get ready for a broken fucking arm" in Brisbane during the 2013-14 series? "A lot is made of that and, yes, it wasn't the ideal choice of words. Jimmy Anderson is a person who winds up Australia like no one else I have seen in cricket, though. But I'm expecting the cricket to be of such a high standard that hopefully that stuff won't surface too much.

"If England take their new carefree attitude they've shown into their Test cricket then, wow, because there is no doubt they have the skill and the talent but Australia start as favourites - and rightly so."