Bess eyes franchise ‘prize’

Taking Yorkshire to the One Day Cup semi-finals last season was the join best finish by the club in any white ball competition since his arrival (remember T20 Finals Day in 2022?). Alongside some stellar individual efforts, Bess must take credit for harnessing all that as skipper.

That appointment, as well as his stand-in captaincy role in the championship last season, when Jonny Bairstow was at the IPL, was a definite vote of confidence from head coach Anthony McGrath. You could certainly now see the 28-year-old being a strong candidate for full county captaincy once ‘YJB’ hangs up his boots.

There’s water still to pass under the bridge before then perhaps, who knows, further international cricket for the former Somerset off spinner. The question is how, when the England camp is placing little stock by what happens in the championship, does an off spinner who bowls mostly at Headingley, get back to that level?

I meet him at YCCC headquarters and ask him if he thinks franchise cricket is a route back in: “Yeah, a hundred per cent,” he says. “The way it’s evolved, the lads who are playing franchise cricket are playing in higher pressure situations, in front of more people and under more scrutiny. I think you’ve then seen players get picked from franchise cricket, the Hundred and have probably then moved into Test cricket and been given more opportunities.”

Bess himself has missed out on those opportunities, having been overlooked by the franchises in the Hundred, as well as the big ones worldwide. One of the reasons he joined the Tykes was for more white ball opportunities than he was being afforded at Taunton.

He’s now played 71 T20 matches, taking 55 wickets at a little under 30 and with an economy rate of 7.79. Like all T20 cricketers, there are good days and bad and it wouldn’t take an enormous amount of tweaking to get those figures looking more attractive to those franchises and put his name back under brighter lights.

“It (franchise cricket) is certainly a different route to just county cricket. You want to give yourself the best opportunities. All I’ve ever wanted to do is play for England and if that’s a different avenue into the set-up then of course, I want to play that,” he says.

“I think there’s been quite a few of us if I’m honest that haven’t had opportunities in the franchise world, James Wharton, Will Luxton for example. It’s something I’ve wanted to scratch, of course.

“Financially, it’s certainly opened up some amazing doors but the main priority is to play at the highest level, competing against the best players and then if that’s a different avenue into the Test set-up, more exposure, then it would only be a good thing.”

Bess made 14 Test appearances, starting against Pakistan in 2018 but has not played since England’s tour of India in 2021. That’s a long time to be out in the cold but there have, of course, been much greater gaps between Test appearances in the history of the game.

Championship wickets would clearly help his cause and that has never proved to be easy for spinners at Headingley, throughout its history. He’s four wickets shy of 300 in first class cricket, averaging a shade over 34 and if he can’t return to the international stage via that route then, as he suggests, being part of a successful Yorkshire white ball team may still prove to be a vehicle for him.

“As a team in the Vitality Blast we’ve got to be a lot better. Team success allows for individual success. That’s a massive thing and I am a big believer in that because of what happened at Somerset at the start of my career," he says.

“I think that’s the first step to make sure we are competing on all fronts, getting into finals days and then hopefully if I am in the team and involved and getting the job done then you just get that one lucky chance that then opens up a couple of doors.”

This is an extract from an exclusive feature interview with Dom Bess for White Rose Files. Subscribers to White Rose Files have access to the full interview.