JOE Root has backed Alex Lees to shine as Yorkshire's limited-overs captain this summer.

The England star, a likely future international skipper himself, believes Lees has what it takes to lead the Vikings to silverware – hopefully this year.

Lees, 23, takes over from Andrew Gale, who stepped away from white-ball leadership duties last August.

He has captained Yorkshire in all forms of the game during the past two and a bit seasons, but Friday's NatWest T20 Blast opener with Leicestershire at Headingley will be his first as the full-time leader.

And Root, on Test match duty with England, has high hopes for the left-handed batsman.

"I've seen Alex do it, and I think he's brilliant," he said.

"He's very mature for his age with a good understanding of the game. It will do him the world of good.

"It will obviously put a bit more pressure on him, but he thrives on that. You saw that when he scored a hundred on the telly against a brilliant attack at Nottinghamshire recently.

"Fingers crossed, he will relish the challenge and prove to everyone his tactical nous and skill."

Root's availability for this summer's Blast is limited. He played once last year and has only been pencilled in to play one in 2016 – against Notts at Headingley on June 17.

He played in Yorkshire's only appearance at T20 Finals Day in 2012, and is hoping they can get there again.

"We've got an exciting squad," he said. "But, as you've seen in previous years, it's all very well having an exciting squad. It's about putting in the performances consistently.

"We have underperformed over the last couple of tournaments, so it would be nice to really get off to a strong start and build some momentum – make sure we get to the quarter-finals and go on from there because Finals Day is a great day."

Root starred in England's recent run to the World T20 final in India.

"I hope it has a knock-on effect," he said. "The way we played was outstanding. That will hopefully give guys in county cricket confidence and show they can play with the freedom that we had.

"Only time will tell if that happens, but there's certainly plenty of talent around the country that can drag us forward.

"The standard of Twenty20 cricket is improving all the time in England, and hopefully it can continue to do that because there are some amazing franchise competitions around the world.

"We need to make sure that the standard of our competition is as good as that.

"I think we've got the players – that was proven by the way we played in the World Cup.

"Now it is about making sure the other guys do that in county cricket, take five wickets, make big scores, show off their skills and try to put pressure on the guys who've got the shirt at the minute."

Yorkshire play the first of three T20 warm-up matches against local Yorkshire league opposition on Tuesday at York's Clifton Park when they take on a Yorkshire League North Select XI, starting at 6pm.