Fin Bean is determined to keep his eyes firmly on the main prize of promotion after gaining recent England recognition via a training camp in India.
Yorkshire’s opener was selected to travel to Mumbai for a 10-day batting camp last month as one of five promising young batters who the England management are watching.
It came on the back of an impressive breakthrough year in 2023 for the 21-year-old left-hander, who scored 983 Championship runs with a trio of centuries.
He forged a successful opening partnership with Adam Lyth, one which will hopefully be repeated in 2024 to carry the county towards promotion back to Division One.
As much as Bean is delighted to have been recognised by the national selectors, he insists pushing Yorkshire forwards is his primary focus at present.
“I had a decent year last year, but it was my first year and I didn’t expect anything like this,” said the Harrogate-born star. “So it’s nice to be in their thoughts and to be recognised for what I’ve done.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Adam Lyth and Fin Bean celebrate another milestone against Derbyshire at Scarborough last summer.
“The goal is to play for England, but we’ll see what happens. If I can keep scoring runs, that’s all I can do. The rest of it will take care of itself
“Selection is out of my hands. But the main thing is that I try to repeat what I did last year, better it even, and contribute towards us getting promoted.”
This is the second successive winter in which Bean has travelled out to Mumbai following a Yorkshire batting camp at the start of 2023, led by assistant coach Ali Maiden.
On this England trip, he said: “There were five us who went, and we got told we were on their radar – the next crop of young batters if you like just below the Lions.
“They wanted us to go away to India and experience it.
“We didn’t have any coaches with us, but we were based at the Bombay Gymkhana club.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Fin Bean receives 2023 the Members’ Player of the Year Award, here with assistant coach Ali Maiden and president Jane Powell.
“Joey Evison, Tom Prest, Tom Haines and Emilio Gay were the other lads who went, and it was 10 days of batting with so many net bowlers. We were batting for four or five hours a day, so it was great to get that volume of work in at this time of year.
“I went the year before with Ali and a few other lads on a Yorkshire trip, and that was good because it gave me an idea of what to work on this time.
“The main things were my boundary options against spin. I was working on trying to put the pressure back on the bowlers. You face that many bowlers and you’re batting for so long, you can almost master something in a day. That was the great thing about it.
“It was great to go and experience a new thing.”
Bean’s success came in Championship cricket, yet he has designs on contributing against the white ball as well. And working on playing against spin will only help him.
He continued: “We had the discussion out there as batters and openers in particular, you very rarely face much of the spinning ball in England.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Fin Bean is aiming to marry Championship and white ball success in 2024.
“In county cricket, working on that kind of thing is more for the shorter formats, really, or for progressing through to the next level up like the Lions or even Test cricket.”
Almost immediately after finishing last season with his 983 four-day runs, he was handed Yorkshire’s members’ player of the year award on the outfield at lunch on day four of the season-ending win over Worcestershire at Headingley.
He spoke about his season, and there was a definite tinge of regret that he hadn’t been able to get another 17 runs to reach the 1,000-mark. But, overall, is was certainly a job well done for a young player who had made his mark on the first-class game.
“I got that close, and – yes – there was initial disappointment,” he reflected. “But, on the whole, it was very pleasing.
“To do that in my first year, it’s given me something to build on for this season.”
Bean has been one of a number of Yorkshire players who have travelled overseas this winter to work on their games. Dom Leech, Matthew Revis and James Wharton are playing club cricket in Australia, George Hill is doing the same in New Zealand and Dom Bess is having success in Zimbabwean domestic cricket.
Picture by John Heald. Matthew Revis (r) and Jordan Thompson (second r) are two all-rounders who have spent large parts of the winter away from Headingley.
Jordan Thompson is also on ILT20 duty in the UAE with MI Emirates.
“It’s nice to see your mates doing well, getting away and playing cricket,” said Bean. “It gives them a great deal of confidence and also the lads back at base confidence in them that their games are in a good place.”
And very quickly now, full focus will switch to the English summer and success with the white rose on their chest. And listening to Bean speak, confidence is high.
“Absolutely, 100 percent,” he added.
“Championship promotion is the main goal around the club and what everybody wants and is striving for. The vibe around the group is really good. There’s a fresh start after the points deduction last year, and things are positive moving forwards.”
