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Who is Dominic Bess? The rundown on England's new spinner

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Abdullah719

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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…


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."

Bess' sense of humour was once again evident with his reaction to his first ever England call up, telling Sky Sports News: "I was actually in IKEA with my girlfriend. I've just got a new house so we were looking for some sofas and I was having an argument with my missus! Ed Smith [England national selector] phoned me and it was an amazing moment. I couldn't quite believe it."


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.

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.


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.


What they said?

Sky Sports Cricket's Rob Key: "An exciting selection. It's good to see England take a flier on a young spinner. He has played a bit for the Lions, and has an excellent record in first-class cricket - though people will say he does that down in Taunton, on real turners - with 63 wickets in 16 games.

"He would have been away with the Lions, and the coaches would have looked at him and thought this lad has something about him, someone you can throw in at a young age. Get him in now, as when you get to Sri Lanka in the winter, you're going to have to find out about these people."

England national selector, Ed Smith: "Dom has had a terrific start to his first-class career, not only at Somerset but when he's been given the opportunity to play in a representative match - for the MCC or a North v South fixture - he has grabbed it.

"That says a lot about his character and personality. The opportunity was there, with the disappointment for Jack Leach [out through injury], to look at a young, exciting spinner and we took it."

http://www.skysports.com/cricket/ne...inic-bess-the-rundown-on-englands-new-spinner
 
To be honest, never heard of him before but given Pakistan batsmens ability to make unknowns look like legends, wouldn't be surprised if we hear more of him.

Also has a good chance of pushing Moeen Ali out of the side
 
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Last time, Colin de Grandhomme got a 6-fer’ and AA said it was because there was no footage of him available.

Let’s hope this kid is denied a standard 5-fer’ on debut in the second innings after being smashed in the first innings a la Adil Rashid.
 
Confident, wicket taker, useful with the bat, excellent fielder.

He could be The New Swann.
 
Either he is going to be smashed or he is going to have a dream debut. Nothing in the middle.
 
Hope he gets whacked around, and Moeen comes back in. If Mooen was playing, I'd feel bad about him not succeeding but wouldn't want him to.
 
His batting ability is there , without which Poms would not consider playing a spinner.

Poms need to bring in spinners only on bowling ability.
 
Justcrazy said:
His batting ability is there , without which Poms would not consider playing a spinner.

Poms need to bring in spinners only on bowling ability.
Click to expand...

Yes, we should pick a spinner who's performed worse with the ball in county cricket than Bess to ensure our spinner has absolutely no batting ability.
 
MenInG said:
So end of Moeen Ali if this guy does well?
Click to expand...

When Moeen gets his confidence back we will see him in LO again.

I said on another thread that he should look to come back as a #5 test batsman - he has the ability - and second spinner, like the role Ravi Shastri played for India.
 
He's not an unknown to Azhar Ali/Asad Shaiq/Sarfraz Ahmed. Bess played against Pakistan in a tour match in 2016. Didn't get a wicket in either innings.
 
na bhai. Bohuti Kutt peni! FC record is good but don't see him doing well.
 
The rise of Dom Bess has been staggeringly swift. On Thursday, if the sun keeps shining, he will, at the age of 20, become a Test cricketer after playing only 16 first-class matches in his life. Yet two or three weeks ago he was pondering whether it might be a good idea to see if he could go out on loan from Somerset as there was little incentive for any county side to play two spinners so early in the season and his friend, Jack Leach, England’s most recent debutant, was occupying that slot in the Somerset team.

Now, after Leach’s unfortunate injury, Bess is among the glitterati at Lord’s. He is suddenly hot property, though I am unable to confirm that he already has a sponsorship deal with Ikea. He might have earned one since it became public knowledge to the millions of cricket followers out there (I take a more optimistic view than the ECB’s chairman) that he was in the brand new Exeter store looking for furniture when Ed Smith rang him with the news of his selection last week.

It would be remarkable if Bess, so callow in cricketing experience, had a major impact at Lord’s. But don’t count it out. In September 2016 he was catapulted into the Somerset side to make a Championship debut against Warwickshire. The ball was spinning but even so it was stunning that his first two victims in successive deliveries were Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell. He finished with six for 28 from 16 overs and added two more for good measure in the second innings. In March, in his first game for the MCC in Bridgetown, Barbados, he took eight wickets against Essex and knocked up a rapid century. Does he not realise what a difficult, tortuous game this is?

Charlie Gabbitass, Bess’s cricket coach at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon, suggests that he doesn’t. “Dom does not overthink things,” he says. “He just gets on with it. Give him an opportunity and he’ll embrace it. At Lord’s on Thursday I expect him to be thinking, ‘Right, I want to get five wickets here.’”

Even so, Gabbitass acknowledges that Bess was not an especially precocious schoolboy cricketer earmarked for the professional game at a young age. “He came to us from a local primary school, a podgy boy from Sidmouth and he took a bit of time to adjust but on the games field he always had confidence. Early on it became apparent he had the ability to spin the ball – he’s got big hands he can wrap around the ball – and he could instinctively bowl at different paces without changing his action. Playing rugby helped him, I’m sure.

“He was never hot-housed. It got him fitter and he enjoyed it, moving from hooker into the backs. He had an insatiable appetite to learn and take on board advice. And he was a humble boy with a good feel for the game when he was captain.”

One indication that young Dom was not a child prodigy is that he felt it necessary to move clubs to progress. The Bess family hail from Sidmouth, where several of Dom’s cousins still play cricket on a famous old ground overlooking the sea, but with the prompting of Gabbitass, Bess decided at the age of 16 to move to Exeter CC, where he would be guaranteed more bowling. He attended the Somerset Academy while still at Blundell’s before becoming a beneficiary of the club’s decision to play on some spinning surfaces at Taunton.

In part this explains his astonishing success as a young spinner. In 16 matches he has 63 wickets at 22.49 apiece; as a batsman he is not technically perfect but he has a good eye, natural ability to time the ball and a batting average of 25, which could easily improve. He may have to learn how to bowl on flat pitches in Test cricket – but he won’t worry too much about that.

His uncomplicated zest for the game shines through. Unsolicited, Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, mentioned how impressed he was by Bess when he joined up with the England squad last summer. It was not so much his batting and bowling that made an impression; it was his guileless eagerness to get stuck in to whatever they were doing (he can play football, too), however exalted those around him were. Bess does not like to sit still for long. He buzzes in the field, bristles with the bat and instinctively hunts for wickets.

He is, of course, incredibly raw but so far he seems to have made that an asset; he does not waste time contemplating the pitfalls ahead. He has never played at Lord’s, though he was in the squad when Somerset were there last year – apparently this was his first, wide-eyed trip to the capital.

Back in the West Country there will be a host of well-wishers for the most endearing of cricketers on Thursday. Another Blundell’s teacher, Amy Candler, who was rather more concerned with Bess’s academic progress than his cricket coach, speaks warmly of his “grit and determination to make the best of himself. We’re all absolutely thrilled by his call-up”. So they are at Taunton, even though they are fast running out of spinners there.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/20/dom-bess-england-first-test-pakistan-lords
 
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England spinner Dom Bess believes Pakistan's aggressive batting style could benefit him if he makes his Test debut at Lord's on Thursday.

The 20-year-old was a surprise inclusion in England's squad for the first Test match of the summer after his Somerset team-mate Jack Leach was ruled out by a broken thumb.

Despite having made just 16 first-class appearances in his career so far, Bess is ready to attack if he is given his chance at the home of cricket.

"I'm an attacking off-spinner," Bess said. "It depends on the role or situation but you're always looking for wickets.

"Say it's the first innings - obviously we've got goals back in the changing room - I might be asked to do a containing role.

"Against Pakistan it could be quite interesting because they're very aggressive - but it's a great challenge. If I contain them the opportunities could potentially come."

England are attempting to bounce back from a winless winter in the Test arena, which saw series defeats to both Australia and New Zealand.

Bess and the recalled Jos Buttler, who has shone in the Indian Premier League, bring some much-needed freshness to the squad.

In addition to his general lack of experience, Bess has never played a match at Lord's and admitted his main memory from his previous visit - as Somerset's 12th man - was enjoying the venue's famed lunches.

Nasser Hussain and Rob Key debate whether young Hampshire leg-spinner Mason Crane still has a future in Test cricket for England
Although Bess admitted to some nerves and revealed he has consulted Leach for advice, his ambition to get onto the Lord's honours board reflects a high level of confidence.

"I don't think I need to change anything," Bess said.

"That's what Leachy did say, 'you're here for a reason, you've just got to adapt now to the level up'. I think that's something hopefully I can do well.

"I'd never been to the home dressing room, so to have a look at the board was very special. Hopefully one day I can get my name up there."

http://www.skysports.com/cricket/ne...looking-for-pakistan-wickets-on-england-debut
 
Will probably get a few overs at the lower order once the england seamers have ripped through pakistans top order.
 
Wouldn’t it be great to see Bess, Crane and Moeen all in the side to face SL this winter?
 
Never forget boys that GOAT spinner has a 6-fer against us in this very ground. If Marcus North could do it, so could Dominic Bess :mv
 
Reminds me of the Steve Smith that I saw against Pakistan in England in 2010.

He is not the next Smith, but there is something about him. He has character, and it will be very interesting to see how his career develops.

He is close to becoming a favorite of mine.
 
Looks like a good batsman, all-rounder in the making here. Another moen Ali but better batting
 
I Like this guy's confidence there is something about him. Hopefully he better developes his spin bowling craft in future.
 
Mamoon said:
Reminds me of the Steve Smith that I saw against Pakistan in England in 2010.

He is not the next Smith, but there is something about him. He has character, and it will be very interesting to see how his career develops.

He is close to becoming a favorite of mine.
Click to expand...


But this guy won’t last when bowlers take him seriously and bowl to plans.
 
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Seems like England have found a replacement for Greame Swann. He bats fine and keeps it tight with the ball as well.
 
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