ALEX Lees has been tipped to enjoy a "bumper" year by Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie.

The left-hander, the county's limited-overs captain, struggled to find top gear last season, scoring only one hundred in 16 County Championship matches.

Lees, 23 this week, could not build on an encouraging start to 2015, which included a ton in the second match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

Still, as Gillespie has pointed out, a return of five half-centuries in four-day cricket and an average of 33.12 meant it was far from a disastrous year for the opening batsman.

Lees is in the Yorkshire team for today's three-day friendly against the students of Leeds-Bradford MCC Universities at Headingley.

"Alex played well in patches last year – he got a number of starts," said Gillespie.

"His challenge will be to convert those starts into significant scores and not just make a hundred but make a daddy hundred, as we refer to them – those big scores that put your team in the driving seat.

"Alex has the capacity to make those daddy hundreds. He's a very driven individual.

"He has worked incredibly hard at his game this winter, and he's also excited about the challenge of leading the team in short-form cricket.

"Opening the batting in county cricket, he still averaged 33 with the bat, which was far from a disastrous year. I thought he played decently last year.

"With Alex, the difference between him averaging 33 and mid-forties was just converting those starts.

"I've got no doubt Alex is going to have a bumper year. I'm really excited for him – from the playing and the leadership side."

Lees' captaincy duties will not kick in until next month, when the T20 Blast starts, but he is still part of the leadership group.

Although Yorkshire have not named an official vice-captain, Lees would most likely be the man to step in for Andrew Gale should he miss a Division One match for any reason.

The England Lions man has captained the county in all forms during the past 12 months, with the job he has done impressing Gillespie immensely.

"Captaincy is quite natural for Alex," he added. "He is a deep-thinking cricketer.

"He had a couple of opportunities to captain the side when Galey was injured, so when Galey stepped down, we thought Alex was the right fit.

"We had a number of contenders, but we just felt the way he led the side, he accounted for himself very well. He really enjoyed that, and we saw the lads respond positively to him."

Today's friendly against the students, starting at 11am, is not first-class.

Bradfordian fast bowler Moin Ashraf, Billy Root and Alex Lilley could all feature against their former county, who have named a strong side.

Jonny Bairstow will play the first two days before a prior commitment rules him out of Wednesday's third day. He will be replaced by Academy keeper Jonathan Read.

Yorkshire: Gale (captain), Bairstow (wicket-keeper, Read day three), Ballance, Brooks, Carver, Leaning, Lees, Lyth, Patterson, Rhodes, Sidebottom.