Joe Sayers is loving the opportunity to show another side of his game in Twenty20 cricket.

The Yorkshire batsman has admitted his frustration at the perception that he is a player only capable of playing in the Championship, but is satisfied with a couple of his performances in four Friends Life t20 appearances so far this campaign.

Left-hander Sayers says he has been encouraged to be more positive in all forms of the game, not just Twenty20, by first-team coach Jason Gillespie.

And he should get another opportunity to do that against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford tomorrow, his first taste of a Roses Twenty20 match despite making his debut in this format back in 2005.

“It has been a frustration over the years,” said Sayers, who scored 28 off 23 balls against Leicestershire earlier this month before 38 off 30 against Nottinghamshire at Headingley on Sunday.

“In the early part of my career I fulfilled a role in a senior side of ex-internationals really, where I was the anchor in the four-day innings with people batting around me. I suppose that’s where it’s developed from.

“But Dizzy’s full of belief and confidence in my ability to go and strike the ball.

“He’s been really encouraging me to play that way in all forms of the game and go and show an intent to score.

“I’m really enjoying it. It’s quite liberating really.

“I’ve done a lot of work over the years on my technique, and I’m confident there’s a good foundation there to just go and strike the ball.

“He’s basically said that he’s right behind me to go and redefine myself as a player in that way.

“We’re all fully confident that those skills are in my locker, now it’s about me backing myself to go and use them against the best bowlers in the country.

“I’m quite excited about the opportunity to be honest.

“Hopefully, a couple of Twenty20s over the next week will help me make a statement that I’m committed to that and am going in the right direction.

“Dizzy saw glimpses of what he’s talking about in his playing days here during the T20 training leading up to matches, and I know he’s been full of belief over the last few weeks in me executing the plans he’s been talking about.

“Hopefully, I can take that into 40-over cricket later in the summer and into the four-day stuff as well.”

Sayers, who has opened the innings in all four t20 matches this term, has only played 16 times in this format in his career, and unless Yorkshire win their last three group games, he will have to wait to get into the 20s.

The Vikings know where they must improve – their play against spin – and they have to improve quickly because Lancashire pride themselves on using three spinners with the boundaries pushed back as far as they can be.

“That’s an area of our game we need to work harder on, definitely – finding the boundary against slower bowling, whether that’s seamers taking the pace off the ball or against spin,” added Sayers.

“Obviously we had Miller last year who could strike the ball over the boundary against spin, and that’s a major part of getting 160 plus.

“I think we need to get better at taking them down for eights, nines or tens an over.”