WHEN Yorkshire travelled to play Lancashire in the County Championship three years ago, a 17-year-old pace bowling prospect called James Lee was thrown in at the deep end for his senior debut.

As he quite happily admits, the chance came through the unavailability of more senior players.

But now things are different, and Lee believes he is better prepared for the challenge of first team cricket. Ironically, the 20- year-old from Sheffield will once again get the opportunity to stake his claim at Old Trafford today because the Tykes face their arch-rivals in two 50-over friendly matches.

“The year when I played, we relied massively on injuries.

“The squad was also a lot lighter than it is now,’’ explained the former England under-19’s player, named in the Yorkshire side alongside Michael Vaughan.

“I still think that I am little bit raw, I am only 20, but if the opportunity came around again I would feel a lot better prepared now than I was three years ago.”

Lee, who claimed three wickets in an impressive spell against the UAE on Yorkshire’s recent preseason tour, performed well with the bat on his debut in 2006. “I don’t think you should read too much into that,” he chuckled, before explaining his take on why he has not featured competitively since.

“After that season when I made my debut, we strengthened massively.

“Goughy came in as skipper, Hoggard dropped out of the England reckoning, while we also signed Rana and Deon Kruis has perhaps been kept on longer than a few people expected. “The emergence of Ben Sanderson and Oliver Hannon-Dalby at the same time as me has also made it difficult.”

Vaughan will play today for Yorkshire, at Old Trafford, before travelling to London for the MCC’s contest with county champions Durham, which starts on Thursday.

Yorkshire: Sayers, Lyth, Vaughan, McGrath (c), Brophy (wk), Bresnan, Pyrah, Rafiq, Lee, Patterson, Kruis.