Will Rhodes will do “a fine job” as a replacement opener for England’s Adam Lyth, according to Yorkshire Academy and Second XI director Ian Dews.

Rhodes is set to open the batting alongside Alex Lees when the White Rose county open the defence of their LV= County Championship title against newly promoted Worcestershire at New Road on Sunday.

The former England under 19s all-rounder has opened the batting in this week’s three-day University match against Leeds/Bradford at Headingley, which finished in a draw yesterday.

He only scored one and 19, but he gained a valuable hour and 20 minutes at the crease in the second innings on Wednesday evening ahead of his Championship debut.

The 20-year-old left-hander has previous experience of facing the new ball below first-team level, including successfully for the Yorkshire Academy in league cricket under the watchful eye of Dews.

“Will hasn’t been an opening bat, but we have helped him develop by putting him into that situation in the Academy,” said Dews. “He’s a very good player. He’s technically solid and he knows where his off-stump is.

“If he opens, I’m sure he will do a fine job.

“Will reminds me very much of Gary Ballance. He can go through the gears. You suddenly look at the board and think ‘how’s he got to 70?’ He goes from 30 to 70 in no time.

“He’s done that in league cricket, second-team cricket, for the under 19s. I don’t think anything will faze him.

“It could be a lot worse for him. He could be up at Durham where it’s nibbling around considerably. It shouldn’t be too bad at Worcester - unless it floods!”

Yesterday’s final day against Leeds/Bradford drifted towards a draw, with Yorkshire opting to get more match practice under their belts instead of going all out for victory.

Resuming the day on 126-6 in their second innings, they were bowled out for 293 almost an hour into the afternoon, setting the students 421 to win.

Rich Pyrah added 40 to his first-innings 84, and he shared 77 for the seventh wicket with Tim Bresnan (38).

Steve Patterson and Karl Carver then added 44 for the ninth wicket and Patterson and Jack Brooks an entertaining 50 in 11.3 overs for the tenth. Brooks hit six fours in 38 off 42 balls.

Yorkshire gave themselves an outside chance of forcing a win by reducing the students to 10-2 in the eighth over of their second innings thanks to wickets for Bresnan and Brooks.

Left-arm spinner Carver then continued to impress with the ball by striking either side of tea on the way to figures of 2-6 from ten overs. He had Logan Weston caught at short extra cover and Steve Bullen lbw. In the first innings, 19-year-old Carver had taken 2-33.

When the players shook hands on a draw at 5pm, Leeds/Bradford were 48-4 from 33 overs.