Dom Bess says Yorkshire CCC ready to win silverware with strongest squad he has known
“WE’RE here to win. We’ve not won for a while. The reason why I first came here was because I wanted to win a lot of silverware, and I think we’re at that point now. Obviously with everything that’s happened – we’ve gone through that transition now. We’re at the point where we want to win.”
Little doubt, therefore, about Dom Bess’s view as to where Yorkshire stand and their objectives for the coming season and beyond.
It is 11 years since Yorkshire won a trophy – four years before Bess first played for them on loan, a drought they are naturally anxious to end.
Since making his move to Yorkshire permanent ahead of the 2021 season, having started his career down in Somerset, a county with which he somehow still seems synonymous, Bess has gone on to become a key member of the Yorkshire side in all formats.
The 28-year-old has now played more than five times as many professional games for Yorkshire as he did for Somerset – 161 to 31, a length of service that makes him well-placed to gauge prospects ahead of a campaign which starts against Glamorgan in the County Championship at Cardiff on Friday with the strongest squad that Bess has personally known at the club.
“Yes, I think it is,” he said when asked if that was so. “I always look at ‘21 when we had Gary (Ballance), Dave (Willey); obviously Harry (Brook) was around for a while, too. Joe (Root) came back quite a bit and in ‘21 we got really close to winning.
“But I think now, with the signings that we’ve made and the lads that we’ve got, we’re in for a really exciting period.
“I think the signings speak for themselves. Getting Jhye Richardson. Then the white-ball team, getting the likes of Moeen (Ali), AJ Tye, Naveen (ul-Haq). You blend that in with the domestic boys.
“We’ve got a number of young players but they’re not so young anymore in terms of they’ve played a lot of cricket now.
“There’s a nice blend of youth and experience, and the direction that Mags (head coach Anthony McGrath) and the whole team have spoken about going in and wanting to take it, I genuinely believe that we’re in a great place.”
The proof of the Yorkshire pudding will be in the eating, of course, but there were signs last year that silverware might not be too far away.
Although Yorkshire finished seventh of the 10 clubs in the Championship First Division, they went unbeaten in the second half of the season (winning three games and drawing four) and, under Bess’ captaincy, reached the semi-finals of the One-Day Cup.
As for the T20, well, there was not too much change there to report, but, as Bess highlighted, the signings of such as Moeen, Tye and Naveen are those of a club determined to put that right, too.
Reflecting on that tremendous run in the One-Day Cup, which saw Yorkshire win seven of their eight group games (more than any other side in the country) before losing to Hampshire at Scarborough, Bess said: “We got super close and we played some beautiful cricket and we properly dominated some really good sides.
“Obviously, Liam Dawson coming back (for Hampshire from The Hundred) and getting 150 in the semi-final shows the next step up from our point of view.
“It shows the standard of ‘well, if you boys want to play international cricket, this is what you’ve got to do in games like that’, and I’m actually glad that people come back for the 50-over semi-finals, the final (from The Hundred) because it’s good experience for the younger lads, which is what we want at this club.”
Due to the congested nature of the schedule, The Hundred and One-Day Cup are staged side-by-side.
Bess is pragmatic. “I think we have to understand where the game is at the moment,” he said.
“The Hundred has opened up new doors for everyone and new opportunities for English cricket.
“As a spinner, I love bowling in 50-over cricket. I love it because it's mid-summer, usually at outgrounds where there’s spin, and you can get into a really good rhythm for the back end of the season.”
Despite the Championship also being impacted by the schedule, Bess believes the four-day format is in a healthy spot, too.
“I think that the County Championship is in a really good place,” he said. “If you look at some of the teams around the country, certainly in Div One, and hopefully with some of the England boys back playing, there should be some really exciting cricket.”
Bess heads into the season needing two more wickets for 400 in all formats – and four more for 300 at first-class level alone. Two hundred and twenty of those wickets have now come for Yorkshire.
“It’s been a very interesting journey,” he said of his time at the club with perfectly-pitched understatement.
“A good one overall – some bad times, some very good times, but, yeah, another season now.”