The dangers of Adil Rashid suffering from second-season syndrome were always going to be acute. When an exciting young leg spinner appears on the English landscape, heads are easily turned. When he can bat capably as well, the flutters of excitement are felt throughout the game.

At the age of 18, Rashid caused more than a few flutters towards the end of last season by taking 25 wickets in his first five championship matches for Yorkshire, as well as scoring useful runs. Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler and a Yorkshire teammate, described him as the best young cricketer in England.

This year, his progress will be watched closely and Rashid is aware that he has given himself a tough act to follow. And all the more so since, having suffered a stress fracture to his back this winter, he has had to learn to bowl with a remodelled action.

With Yorkshire’s first game, against Surrey, less than a fortnight away, Rashid is coming to terms with his new modus operandi. “It felt unnatural to bowl with the new action at first,” he said yesterday. “But I’m about 90 per cent comfortable with it now. The important thing was to change it so that I don’t get injured again.”

In a sense, Rashid was a victim of his own success. He was bowling so well for Yorkshire and England Under19 that, in the last two months of the season, he delivered more than 300 overs. His body was not used to such a workload and, as he was bowling with a “mixed” action — neither fronton nor side-on — a stress fracture to his lower back resulted.

Two months ago, once rest had repaired the injury, he started work with Steve Oldham, the Yorkshire bowling coach, on a more side-on action, slightly aligning his leading arm and feet positioning.

As his recovery continued, he played a limited role on England A’s tour to Bangladesh in February and March. “It was very early stages with the new action, so I wasn’t at my best, but it was another step in the right direction,” he said.

Now 19, Rashid has also built up strength in a body that looked as though it could have been blown over by a gust of Headingley wind last year. “I worked hard on my rehab and strength and now I’m just getting the bowling right,” he said. “Once the season starts, I should not be concentrating on my action, just on the outcome.”

The outcome will be keenly awaited by many, in Yorkshire and beyond.

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