Andrew Gale believes Yorkshire have got three of the best spin bowlers in England on their staff.

The captain arrived back with his squad from their pre-season tour of Barbados yesterday, having seen Azeem Rafiq and Adil Rashid get among the wickets.

Left-arm spinner David Wainwright is the other twirler on Gale’s mind, but the England World Twenty20 hopeful did not get much game time due to a minor knee injury which cleared up only last week.

“They could give me a real headache when the pitches dry out towards the end of the season,” said Gale. “They are three of the best in the country. Azeem bowled superbly on this trip, and we all know what the other two are capable of.”

England under-19s off-spinner Rafiq was arguably Yorkshire’s player of the trip in the Caribbean, staking a claim for more first-team cricket with a total of eight wickets in the two two-day friendlies.

He claimed five in the first match with Derbyshire and three against Lancashire over the weekend.

Despite Yorkshire only winning one 40-over match on tour, and having the better of their two-dayer against Derby early on, Gale believes the trip was a success.

He said there were a number of places up for grabs for the County Championship opener against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on April 9, and some of the younger players could stake a claim.

He said: “It’s been a good opportunity to have a look at the young lads to see how far away they are.”

Rashid, Wainwright, Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad should find out today if they have made England’s 15-man squad for the World Twenty20 in the West Indies. The squad will be announced tomorrow.