Yorkshire CCC's Dom Bess outlines Roses motivation but sees bigger T20 Blast picture too

They are one of four counties – Derbyshire, Durham and Glamorgan the others – who have never won the T20 tournament.

In contrast, Lancashire, who lead the North Group, will qualify for an eighth successive season if they avoid defeat, with a crowd of over 14,000 expected for Headingley’s biggest domestic game.

Lancashire have lost two of their last three T20s, however, including a 19-run defeat to Yorkshire in Manchester last Friday, and they have lost three of the last four Roses matches in Leeds.

“It’s still a big game because it’s Lancashire, obviously, and also because of the table,” said Bess, with Yorkshire level on points with bottom club Derbyshire, albeit with a match in hand.

“If I'm honest, I'd rather see a Leicester or a Worcester go through than a Lancashire, being a Yorkshireman now, so if we can stunt their run at all, then I think that’s small wins.

“But obviously there’s a bigger picture in all of this and it’s frustrating that we’re not talking about quarter-finals ourselves, or home quarter-finals, because we’re a big club and rightly there should be that expectation.

“Obviously we don’t want to finish bottom – that’s the last thing we want – but the table is very tight, with everyone beating everyone, and it’s just the reality of where we are.”

Bess, who turns 28 next Tuesday, has been one of four ever-presents in the Blast campaign (along with captain Dawid Malan, Will Luxton and James Wharton), a campaign that has seen eight defeats and four wins. As such, he is well-placed to comment on why matters have not gone to plan, with Yorkshire bedevilled by familiar inconsistency.

“We have got some quality players, and it's honestly just about tying it all up,” said Bess, who scored his maiden T20 fifty in Sunday’s eight-wicket defeat to Derbyshire at Headingley.

“We go to Old Trafford, 15,000 people there or whatever, and it was absolutely pumping. We get a result and show what we can do.

“Then we lose to Derby, who are down there at the bottom with us, and we just weren’t on it, weren’t good enough, which probably sums up our T20 block.

“I don’t think it’s a pressure element, or anything like that. We showed our capabilities in front of that big crowd at Old Trafford. I think it's just that consistency, day-in, day-out, of getting it done, because it’s been like this for a long time now. And I’m part of that as well, don’t get me wrong, I’m part of that as probably more of a senior player now, and we need to improve.”

Bess started his career at Somerset who have latterly found the consistency that Yorkshire are so desperate to discover. In the past four years, Somerset have won the competition, twice finished runners-up and also been beaten semi-finalists; they are already through to this year’s quarter-finals.

“We've never cruised through to a quarter-final while I’ve been at Yorkshire, and when I started my career at Somerset it was quite similar to that,” added Bess, who made the permanent switch north in 2021 after initially joining Yorkshire on loan.

“Now they're just on a run where they know what they're doing and the consistency is there. At Yorkshire, I think we all know we've got the ability and some very good players, but it’s trying to piece it all together consistently. Again, it’s disappointing and another year where we haven’t been able to do that.”