Bean builds on record innings with impressive performance on first-class debut

Only time will tell after Finlay Bean’s incredible 441 for the Yorkshire second team recently.

That is a lot of expectation for a young man to shoulder but, on this evidence, Bean is more than up to it and that record innings was no flash in the pan.

An accomplished 42 on first-class debut - and against the old enemy at Old Trafford to boot - was proof positive that Yorkshire have another fine young batsman on their hands.

The only shame on a rain-affected second day on which Yorkshire reached 130-4 in response to Lancashire’s first innings 276 was that Bean, a 20-year-old left-hander from York, did not find the additional eight runs that would have given him a well-deserved half-century.

It took a good ball to get rid of him, Tom Bailey, a seasoned campaigner with almost 300 first-class wickets to his name, trapping him leg-before with a yorker.

Bean’s disappointment was clear as he left the field to a warm ovation, having scrapped manfully during a 116-ball innings that contained five fours, but he could be proud of his performance.

Opening the batting in the toughest, or at least the most keenly-contested county fixture of them all, is no easy task for any young debutant, but Bean looks to possess the right temperament in addition to a compact, forceful, stylish game.

That temperament shone through even before Bean opened his account on a day when the morning session was lost to the weather, and on which the last 16 overs also fell by the wayside due to bad light.

He had the discipline to play out two successive maidens from Will Williams, the New Zealander who bowled well first up from The James Anderson End, and then six deliveries from Bailey before getting off the mark to his 19th-ball faced, turning Bailey to leg for a single.

Pretty soon, Bean was on-driving Williams to the boundary in front of the red-bricked pavilion and, two balls later, dispatching him to the mid-off boundary.

Another on-driven four off Williams followed before Bean swept leg-spinner Matt Parkinson to the boundary and then steered George Balderson to the third-man rope, delighting the Yorkshire fans present with a neat and tidy innings.

Yorkshire’s first task, when play eventually got going at 12.55pm, was to take the last two Lancashire wickets after the hosts resumed on 272-8.

It took them just 26 balls, Jordan Thompson having wicketkeeper George Lavelle caught behind and Ben Coad trapping last man Parkinson leg-before.

Adam Lyth fell early in the reply, caught at short-leg off a ball from Williams that perhaps surprised him for bounce, but Bean and George Hill shared 63 for the second wicket in 135 balls.

Hill, dropped on nought by keeper Lavelle diving to his right off Bailey, contributed 32 before being bowled by an excellent leg-break from Parkinson, who was not at his best.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore took the spinner for a trio of boundaries shortly after tea before Bean’s innings ended, closely followed by that of Will Fraine, who left one from Williams that just kissed the bails.