Martyn Moxon believes Alex Lees “looked to be back to his best” after scoring 92 and 107 in Yorkshire’s thrilling draw against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge earlier this week.

Moxon has hailed the left-handed opener’s performance as the major positive to come out of the Specsavers County Championship clash.

The latter score was the Yorkshire limited overs captain’s first hundred since last April at the same venue.

Since then, Lees has failed to convert five first-class fifties, and Moxon says it has been a source of frustration for the 23-year-old.

“He sets himself high standards, so he was frustrated,” admitted Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket.

“Alex has been looking at his game and trying to identify a route back into form. It’s been a tricky time. But that’s all part of a player’s development.

“He’s gone through a difficult period, and he will learn a lot about his game and about himself coming out the other end.

“In the long run, he will be better for this experience, I’m sure.

“He’s an important player for us, particularly as one-day captain now.

“I thought his second-innings hundred was fantastic, and he looked to be back to his best. That was the big positive from the week.”

After three draws to start their Division One title defence, Yorkshire welcome newly-promoted Surrey to Headingley tomorrow, a team who have lost one and drawn two.

They have overseas star Kumar Sangakkara in good form.

“I’m not too disappointed with how we’ve started, although it’s fair to say we’ve not quite been at our best,” said Moxon.

“I think there’s been little periods or sessions where we haven’t performed well enough to win, and it’s cost us an opportunity.

“We’ve room for improvement, but we’re not far away would be my assessment of the first three games.

“We’ve played well, but to win games on the pitches we’re currently playing on, and against the opposition we have given the strength of the division, you’ve got to be on your game for the whole four days. We’ve not quite been able to do that.

“What we’re looking to do is play our A game for longer.

“We know that if we do, we’re capable of winning any match. If we’re not, then we can find ourselves in trouble.

“Surrey lost at Trent Bridge first week, but then they’ve had two decent draws. It won’t be an easy match.

“You can’t look down the list and think ‘oh, we should win that one’ anymore. It’s very much a case of you've got to earn the right.”

Despite Yorkshire’s inability to force a win at Trent Bridge as they chased 320 in 53 overs, Moxon was delighted with the players’ intent.

“The pleasing thing for me and Dizzy (Jason Gillespie) was that it was the lads who wanted to go for it,” he added.

“We had to make sure we got ourselves in. We couldn’t afford to be 20-3 again chasing that sort of target.

“There was no talk of going for it initially, but once Leesy and Gary Ballance set the foundation, the lads wanted to have a go at it.

“It was always going to be tough, but at least we gave it a good shot.”