Video: Jason Gillespie to take time over considering his future after Yorkshire CCC exit

Yorkshire announced on Monday morning that the 41-year-old Australian would be returning home after five years at the helm.

Under Gillespie, the club has rediscovered a winning formula, winning promotion back up to Division One of the County Championship in his first season in charge before going on to win the four-day title twice in as many years.

With four games to go in the current Championship campaign, Yorkshire are well-placed to make it three in a row and face a likely title decider with current leaders Middlesex in the final match of the season at Lord’s.

Last year, Gillespie was strongly tipped to succeed Peter Moores as the England coach before being beaten to the post by fellow Australian Trevor Bayliss.

Earlier this year, following a first campaign in charge of the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash, Gillespie was repeatedly linked with a role in the coaching set up for the Australian national team, working alongside head coach and close friend, Darren Lehmann - himself a Yorkshire legend.

And while he will return to his Big Bash role this winter, it’s thought he will undoubtedly be tempted to fill the gap left by his decision to quit Yorkshire by taking on another role - either alongside Lehmann or closer to home with South Australia.

“At the moment I’m genuinely just looking at these final four games of the season and finishing off as best as we can,” said Gillespie at an early morning press conference on Tuesday.

“I do have a role with Adelaide Strikers but I won’t be thinking about any other things to do until we let the dust settle here. I can then get home, spend some time with the family, prepare for the big bash and then go from there.”

Gillespie said his decision to quit Yorkshire was purely for family reasons and while he tried to find a way of staying at Headingley for another season at least, the return of his wife and children to Australia a few weeks ago made any such arrangement impractical.

“The initial plan was for my family to go back and spend a bit of time in Australia and then, after the Big Bash, we would all come back for another season at Yorkshire,” he explained.

“I still had these thoughts that I could still work here and I could try and maybe get back home a couple of times during the summer for a few days. But the more I thought about it - from a family point of view - the more it became clear that that wasn’t going to be practical .

“At the end of the day, family comes first.”

Gillespie, who spent two years with Yorkshire as a player, took over as head coach ahead of the 2012 season, transforming the county’s fortunes, as they suffered just five defeats in 76 County Championship matches.

The 41-year-old admitted he had loved his time at Yorkshire and had made friendships that would last a lifetime. He also refused to rule out a return to the club somewhere down the line.

“I don’t write anything off,” said Gillespie.

“I love this club and have enjoyed every minute of it.

“Who knows what will happen in the future? I wouldn’t say no moving forward, but at the moment the time is right to spend some time with my family.”