KARL Carver is on the right track to becoming Yorkshire's second spin option behind England regular Adil Rashid.

Carver has enjoyed an encouraging pre-season, both at home and abroad, although he has been denied the opportunity for further match action this week with the planned two-day friendly at Derbyshire cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch.

The 20-year-old left-armer spent the majority of February training in India before returning impressive performances with both red and white ball on Yorkshire's pre-season tour of the United Arab Emirates last month.

Carver took five wickets in two Twenty20 games as the Vikings won the Emirates Airline competition in Dubai, beating the MCC and Lancashire.

He then claimed six wickets in 55.2 overs in the four-day champion county defeat to the MCC in Abu Dhabi, including Ian Bell twice.

Last year Carver played in the first two County Championship matches of the season as a stand-in for Rashid.

Unfortunately for him, Jason Gillespie and the rest of the management team then opted to recruit veteran off-spinner James Middlebrook and allow Carver more time to develop in second-team cricket. Now though, things look set to be different.

Director of cricket Martyn Moxon recently admitted that Middlebrook will almost certainly not return to Headingley, while head coach Gillespie was encouraged by Carver's performances in the Middle East last month.

Gillespie said: "Karl accounted for himself very well. To come in and be a front-line spinner against a batting line-up as strong as the MCC's, to be the main man, was a big ask of a young finger spinner in only his fourth first-class game.

"He's bowled 55 overs, which by definition is a fantastic opportunity to have a good, long bowl.

"There will be more opportunities through the rest of pre-season because Adil is with England and won't have much cricket before the first Championship game. That will give Karl plenty of opportunity to put his name up for selection."

Carver will not start the season if, as expected, Bradfordian Rashid is made available by England immediately after World T20 duty – but he will almost certainly be given a good run of first-team games later this summer.

Rashid has likely England limited-overs commitments through late June and early July, then again in late August and early September, and he could yet break into England's Test team.

One hugely impressive thing about Carver's performances in the UAE was his ability to deal with players attacking him, as the experienced Bell did.

The England Test man tried and succeeded in hitting him over the top but Carver stuck to his guns and got him caught in the ring in each innings when trying to attack once too often.

Gillespie said: "His character is very sound. What's been most pleasing about Karl is the learning. He's made improvements from last year.

"You fast-forward a year and we're seeing a much more confident and improved young man. Is he the finished article? Absolutely not – but we don't know if anyone ever is.

"We don't want to put too much pressure on him. We want him to continue to learn about the art of bowling spin and get lots of over under his belt so that he can find a way of being successful."

Meanwhile, Joe Root will be available for Yorkshire's four-day matches against Nottinghamshire and Surrey ahead of England's Test series against Sri Lanka next month.

The England batting star will be rested for the opening County Championship fixture against Hampshire at Headingley, starting on April 17.

He will then face Notts at Trent Bridge on May 1 before returning to Headingley a week later for the defending champions' clash with Surrey.

Yorkshire have been given permission to field Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance, Liam Plunkett, David Willey and Rashid whenever they see fit.