Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon has admitted the county’s preparations for the new season have been dealt a blow by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

His comments came as four of the Tykes most valuable players were preparing to leave for a two-month tour of the Caribbean with the England Lions’ on Monday.

It means York-based Jonathan Bairstow, captain Andrew Gale, opener Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid will not be returning to Headingley until just 12 days before the campaign opener against Worcestershire on April 8.

Moxon acknowledged that the experience will be excellent for his players, but that the timing of the tour was far from perfect.

“It is not ideal for our Lions’ players,” confirmed the Headingley chief.

“They are not going to be here when we are formulating our plans for the new season, which is frustrating.

“They will also miss playing with the other members of the squad.”

While Gale’s absence in pre-season will be obvious, after he so expertly skippered the side last season, there is no doubting the importance of the other three players to Yorkshire either.

Lyth finished as the county’s highest run-scorer in 2010, with Rashid taking the most wickets and Bairstow hitting a number of match-winning innings as the campaign came to a close.

“There is not much we can do about it,” added Moxon.

“We will just have to make sure we use the available time that we do have with the four players as wisely as possible.”

The length of the upcoming Lions’ tour is not the only ECB decision that has irritated the county during the close season either.

Yorkshire were also one of a number of counties who wanted a less congested fixture list for 2011, before cricket’s governing body eventually decided to continue on with the same amount of games that were played during the 2010 season.

A philosophical Moxon added that “there is not much point flagging anything up with the ECB”.

He said: “We just have to hope they will get better in the future.”

The England Lions leave for the Caribbean next week and will take part in the West Indies Cricket Board’s Regional Tournament.

They will play four-day matches against each of the other seven competing teams – Barbados, Combined Campuses and Colleges, Guyana, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago and Windward Islands.