Yorkshire’s Moin Ashraf believes advice from one of the most famous fast bowlers of all time this winter means he’s in perfect shape for the 2012 season.

Australian legend Dennis Lillee has been helping the young paceman hone his skills in India.

Labelled the “outstanding fast bowler of his generation” during the 1970s and 1980s, Lillee has turned to coaching since retiring as a player in 1984.

In all, he took 355 Test wickets in his career, and Ashraf joined the 62-year-old at the world-famous MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai.

Speaking from the Tykes pre-season tour in Barbados, Ashraf admitted it was a great experience.

Ashraf said: “I learnt a lot from him (Lillee). He and the other coaches fired a lot of information at us in a short space of time. It worked a treat.

“I tried to pick his brains as much as possible – not just about bowling but about things like recovering from injury.

“We worked on my action and I feel it was a great help.”

With competition fierce for a starting place in Yorkshire’s first team ahead of the new campaign, Ashraf will hope Lillee’s guidance can help him hit the ground running on the Tykes’ trip to the Caribbean.

His first chance to impress new first-team coach Jason Gillespie comes over the next two days, with Yorkshire playing each other in an intra-squad match at Four Square Cricket Club.

It will be Gillespie’s first look at the players in a game since he was appointed to his new role at Headingley in November.

Ashraf added: “It’s been great having Dizzy (Gillespie) around. He’s brought a real buzz to the squad. What’s been clear is that he wants us to enjoy our cricket.

“I came to Barbados last year with Yorkshire and it went really well.

“I started the season in the first team, and hopefully I can do the same again if I have another good tour.

“I had a couple of months away from the first team last year, which allowed me to reflect on my game and to work on a few things. I came back refreshed and finished the season well. I feel ready to go again.”

One thing which certainly has changed with Ashraf over the winter is his appearance.

After spending time with the England Performance Programme as well, he has put on a significant amount of muscle mass to go with a natural growth of around four centrimetres.

The 20-year-old said: “I’ve done a lot of strength work that I haven’t really done before, and I’ve learned a lot from it.

“It’s helped me both physically and mentally. I’m gaining on the physical side, but I’m also getting mentally stronger by training in tougher conditions.”

Ashraf will line up in skipper Andrew Gale’s side for the two-day intra-squad friendly, with Joe Sayers skippering the other Yorkshire XI.

Andrew Gale XI: Andrew Gale (capt), Adam Lyth, Alex Lees, Anthony McGrath, Gerard Brophy (wkt), Ajmal Shahzad, Azeem Rafiq, Gurman Randhawa, Moin Ashraf, Oliver Hannon-Dalby and one local player Joe Sayers XI: Joe Sayers (c), Joe Root, Gary Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Ryan Sidebottom, Steve Patterson, Iain Wardlaw and three local players.