Sessay teenager Karl Carver is in pole position to fill the gap that is expected to be left at Yorkshire by England’s Adil Rashid at various stages next summer.

The 19-year-old left-armer has been identified as one of two spinners who could step up and play regular county cricket in 2016 should Rashid’s international commitments continue.

Ex-Essex leg-spinner Tom Craddock is the other, although the Huddersfield-born player has not signed a contract with Yorkshire and is playing winter grade cricket in Australia.

Craddock, 26, was released by Essex at the end of 2014 after playing 18 first-class matches, but the county champions believe he has a county future.

He played second XI cricket for Yorkshire during an injury-hit summer this year, and he will return late in pre-season.

Given Carver is contracted at Yorkshire and will have the winter to work on his development at Headingley, that must put him at the head of queue at this early stage.

The door has not been completely shut on a return for veteran off-spinner James Middlebrook, but he is concentrating on furthering a career in umpiring and will only be called upon if needed at a later date.

Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon explained: “At this moment in time, we’re wanting Karl Carver and Tom Craddock to come through and take Rash’s place when we need them to. That would be ideal.

“If that doesn’t happen, we will have to look at Plan B.

“James has got his future to think about. He wants to get on the umpiring circuit. He’s going away this winter to umpire in Australia for a while, and there’s other bits and pieces he wants to try and do.

“The problem is that to train with us, he has to put the rest on hold, and I don’t think that’s fair just in case we need him.

“At this moment in time, he’s pursuing his future career, and we’re hopeful of being able to cover any absence from Rash through the lads we’ve got on our radar - Karl and Tom.”

After Carver played in the first Championship match of last summer, Yorkshire opted to sign Middlebrook and let the teenager continue his red ball development in the seconds.

A product of the Leeds/Bradford MCCU system, Craddock has 41 first-class wickets to his name between 2011 and 2014, and he took five wickets in an Ashes warm-up match for Essex against England in 2013.

Moxon added: “Tom hasn’t signed a contract. He had three separate injuries last summer, so didn’t play as much as he or we would have liked. He trained with us all last winter in a purely expenses situation.

“We think he’s got something, which he showed at Essex. We’re hoping he has a productive, injury-free winter in Australia and comes back to join us in pre-season. Then we’ll see where we’re at with him.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire are waiting for international schedules and IPL commitments to be finalised before confirming their overseas signing for the new season.

The county are planning to have one player for all competitions for as much of the season as possible.