For the second successive Test, England will have a Somerset spinner making his debut.
Jack Leach played in England’s last Test of the winter, taking 2-113 against New Zealand in Christchurch, but a broken thumb sustained while with his county has opened the door for team-mate Dominic Bess to make his England debut in the first Test of the summer against Pakistan.
The 20-year-old off-spinner has formed a devastating partnership with Leach at Somerset for the last two summers, being rewarded with a call-up to the squad for the Lord’s Test starting on May 24.
But what do we know of England’s new spinner? Here we take a look at his credentials…
Who is Dominic Bess?
- Full name: Dominic Mark Bess
- Age: 20
- Born: Sidmouth, Devon
- Twitter: @DomBess99
Cricketing beginnings
Bess is from Sidmouth in Devon. A keen rugby player in his youth, his focus turned to cricket and Somerset when he signed a scholarship contract with the county, having joined the club’s academy when he was 16. In explaining how he came to be an offspinner, Bess once remarked: “I was always a little porker when I was younger, so I never took the long run-up. I always took five or six steps and just trotted in.”
FACT
Bess spent the 2015-16 winter at former Australia head coach Darren Lehmann’s cricket academy in Adelaide.
County career
Bess enjoyed a dream start to his Somerset career. On his County Championship debut in late 2016, he took 6-28 in the first innings against Warwickshire – including the wickets of former England pair Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell off successive balls – and followed that up with a further two strikes in the second innings and a five-for in the final game of the season against Nottinghamshire as Somerset briefly went top, before being overhauled by Middlesex for the title.
FACT
Bess recorded the best figures by a Somerset championship debutant since Tony Pearson took 7-63 against Worcestershire in 1961.
As Somerset struggled to reach such heights in 2017, battling against relegation, Bess still proved a formidable opponent for batsmen, claiming 36 wickets in nine games at an average of 23.41 – including three five-fors and a 10-wicket match haul against Hampshire. Things have proven trickier at the start of this season, Bess claiming only one wicket in his two seamer-dominated games so far.
England vs Pakistan
May 24, 2018, 10:00am
Live on
Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass
He can bat, too
While Bess hasn’t yet made a telling impression with the ball this year, he certainly has done with the bat. Included in an MCC XI in the traditional county season curtain-raiser against defending champions Essex, Bess – batting at nine – blasted 107 from only 106 balls for his maiden first-class ton. He has since followed that up with a 118-ball 92 in Somerset’s draw with Hampshire this week. Bess averages a handy 25.38 in 16 first-class matches.
England recognition
Bess has previously represented England under-19s, and was called up by England Lions for the first time last summer, against the touring South Africa A team, although he didn’t feature in the series. Picked again for the Lions’ winter tours of Australia and the West Indies, he took 5-88 when he finally made his debut, against West Indies A in the final unofficial Test in Antigua, outbowling his Somerset partner Leach in the second innings to finish with 5-88.
FACT
Bess has faced Pakistan before. On his first-class debut for Somerset in July 2016, he went wicketless, conceding 128 runs in a tour match against them.
Also See:
Sourse: skysports.com
