There will be at least one bright interlude at rain-hit Headingley today with leg-spin sensation Adil Rashid, who is due to receive the Yorkshire CCC Southern Group's Neil Lloyd cricketer-of-the-year award for 2006, writes DAVID WARNER.

The 19-year-old England Test prospect gets the award in recognition of his 25 Championship wickets in only five matches in his first season last summer when he marked his debut with six for 67 against Warwickshire at Scarborough.

Adil, who has already represented England at under-19 and A-team level, began this season in similar style with 21 wickets in his first four Championship outings, including five for 88 against Durham at Headingley Carnegie.

He has since experienced the first barren period of his young career through failing to take a wicket in the last two Championship matches but neither of the games has been on tracks helpful to spinners.

"We have told Adil that he should not be worried about this because it is quite normal for every bowler to have spells when they do not take wickets," said director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

The Southern Group's player-of-the-year award is in memory of Wakefield-born left-hander Neil Lloyd, who was one of the most outstanding batting prospects in the country before dying in 1982 at the age of 17 from a rare viral infection.

Lloyd by then had already played for Yorkshire Seconds and Young England and he was tragically robbed of what would have been an illustrious career.

Past winners of the award include Moxon, Tim Bresnan and Joe Sayers, who is being tipped to receive his first-team cap very shortly.

The Southern Group was formed in 1980 to promote and support Yorkshire CCC and provide financial assistance for the development of young Yorkshire cricketers.

In addition to their cricketer-of-the-year award the group also provide financial sponsorship and last winter they assisted Sayers and young wicketkeeper-batsman, Jonathan Bairstow, on their respective cricket trips to South Africa.

Incessant rain, which had been falling for over 30 hours, brought about an early abandonment of the first day's play at Headingley yesterday between table-toppers Yorkshire and second-placed Sussex.

With parts of the outfield waterlogged, umpires Richard Kettleborough and Ian Gould were able formally to call it off for the day an hour before the scheduled start.