Alex Lees column

I think everybody in the Yorkshire dressing room is looking forward to the start of Twenty20 later this week.

The crowds are generally a lot bigger and the atmosphere’s a little bit different. It’s certainly a fun game to play.

After the disappointment of last year, when we only won a couple of games, we are obviously very keen to perform better.

I believe that our squad is in good shape and there will be a lot of competition for places.

We have Aaron Finch coming in as one of our overseas players, although he won’t be available until his Indian Premier League campaign is finished. He is arguably the best T20 batsman in the world at the moment and it will be brilliant to have him around.

Momentum in Twenty20 cricket is massive, so starting well is a big thing for any team. If you can get some wins on the board early on, you are set up for having a good tournament.

I only played a couple of T20s last season but I played in the one-dayers at the back end of the summer and I’d like to think I proved that I can play in the shorter formats of the game.

A year further on, I feel in a decent place with my white ball cricket. I played in the second team the week before last and hopefully I’ll get the nod for our first match against Northamptonshire on Friday.

I feel I’m at my best in limited-overs cricket when I just play good cricket shots, keeping it as simple as possible.

In an ideal world, I’d like to open the batting – but I’m not too fussed. I’ll bat anywhere as long as I get in the side.

This summer sees a new format to the competition, a new name (NatWest T20 Blast), more games and regular Friday night cricket.

Hopefully it will generate bigger crowds around the country, particularly at Headingley. It will be interesting to see how it goes on Friday.

I didn’t get to play in either of the Roses T20 matches last year, so it would be great to get my opportunity this time because the atmosphere’s probably the best you will find outside Test cricket.

The likelihood is that we will see Aaron Finch and Jos Buttler play against each other – and there is also talk of Andrew Flintoff making a comeback. It will be very interesting if he plays.