ANDREW Gale says Yorkshire are looking to the future with the decision to hand Alex Lees the captaincy in his absence.

Regular captain Gale started 2015 knowing he would be unavailable for last month's champion county match against the MCC and Sunday's LV= County Championship opener against Worcestershire due to his ECB ban.

And with Lees having skippered the side to a nine-wicket win over the MCC in Abu Dhabi, the 21-year-old opener is almost certain to continue in the role at New Road this weekend.

Lees has plenty of captaincy experience under his belt at county age-group and Academy level, as well as with Yorkshire's second team.

Last season, the left-hander got his initial taste of first-team captaincy during a one-day friendly against Sri Lanka A at Headingley, and he impressed enough to be given another chance.

"It's the way we've gone over a number of years. We gave Azeem Rafiq a chance as a young lad, Rooty a chance and now Leesy. I think it's right that we give young lads an opportunity," said Gale.

"It would have been easy to go to someone like Tim Bresnan or Ryan Sidebottom, but somewhere down the line Leesy might end up captaining Yorkshire, maybe even England one day. It's an ideal opportunity to get some experience.

"He will do things his own way. I haven't interfered much because it's up to him to find his own way.

"He's a steely cricketer. He's very stubborn, which can be a downfall at times as well. But he's a thinking cricketer, and he reads the game really well as a young lad.

"He's got the respect of his team-mates, which ultimately you've got to have."

* Andrew Gale's ProCoach Cricket Academy is introducing a new junior cricket programme aimed at getting infants, toddlers and young children involved in sport, particularly cricket.

Courses are run at Headingley, Harrogate, Wetherby and York from April 18-19 for an initial five-week period.

Visit www.procricketcoachingacademy.com for more details.