While Yorkshire's Twenty20 side are busily preparing for tomorrow evening's Roses showdown against Lancashire at Headingley Carnegie, four other members of the first-team squad are taking part in the three-day ECB Spin Event at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough.

The idea is to give some of the country's best young spinners the opportunity to tackle match-based scenarios which are designed to test their skills and develop their talents.

Not surprisingly, Bradford-born leg-spin sensation Adil Rashid is one of two highly-regarded young Yorkshire slow bowlers taking part - the other being 16-year-old off-spinner Azeem Rafiq, from Barnsley, who plays for the Academy.

Rafiq last season captained England under-15s, when he was believed to be the first Yorkshire player from an Asian background to captain an England team at any level.

Rashid's pedigree, of course, is well known and he will be hoping this worthy exercise gets him back on track for when the Championship programme starts up again with Yorkshire's visit to Old Trafford for the Roses match on July 8.

After claiming at least one wicket - and very often more - in each of the first 18 innings in which he bowled in Championship cricket, Adil then drew a blank in the next three matches.

But Rashid is perfectly aware that no bowler on earth takes wickets every time he turns his arm over and it is quite astonishing that he has gone so long before going through a lean period.

The other two Yorkshire players taking part are left-handers Joe Sayers and Andrew Gale, who are both helping to set up various situations for the bowlers.

The event is being held under the guidance of ECB spin bowling coach David Parsons and also giving a helping hand are injured Warwickshire and England left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and former England spinners John Childs and Jackie Birkenshaw.

Then there is former Middlesex and England captain Mike Gatting, who famously was on the receiving end of the ball of the millennium' from Shane Warne in the first Test at Old Trafford in 1993.

The first Spin course was held last year, when Rashid was among those who attended, and it proved so successful that it was decided to repeat it.