Yorkshire will hope to do to Somerset what Surrey did to them at Scarborough last week as their ongoing clash at Taunton unfolds over the next two days.
The current LV= Insurance County Championship leaders responded strongly to Yorkshire’s first-innings 521 at North Marine Road before bowling them out cheaply on the last day and chasing a target.
And here, that is something Yorkshire could do after Somerset posted 424 during today’s second day.
As Dom Bess said, the visitors “still have work to do” having closed on 167-4, including Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s unbeaten 68. But there is no reason why the job can’t be done.
“Absolutely, that will be our aim,” said the off-spinner, who finished with 4-68 from 29 overs.
“A good partnership tomorrow will put us in a good position.”
He went on: “I thought Harry Brook (41) and Pepsi (Kohler-Cadmore) batted really well, Pepsi especially so.
“I also thought Matthew Waite also did really well considering he’d bowled close to 30 overs. He applied himself really well at the end with the bat.
“That ball gets soft and it’s a really good wicket.
“Some of the shots Pepsi played off Leachy – Leachy as well in his innings – it’s a pretty good wicket with not much pace in it.
“It’s a wicket I’ve never really seen before at Somerset apart from in white ball games.
“They’ve done well to get four wickets, but it was more down to our wrong execution rather than them getting us out. But that’s part of the game.”
Bess impressed with the ball in the first innings on his first return to Taunton having left for Headingley at the end of 2020.
“It probably shows how far I’ve come. Good wicket, soft ball. We were going at three or four runs an over, and my main aim was to really tie it up,” he said.
“I’m pretty good mates with Tom Abell, so I tried to get stuck into him to break his pattern. But he played beautifully for his hundred.”
This is a game which has many Yorkshire-Somerset links; Bess himself, Kohler-Cadmore is joining Somerset this winter and Jack Brooks is playing against the county he won back-to-back Championships with in 2014 and 2015.
Brooks claimed three wickets after tea, including two in two balls.
“He just does what he does,” added Bess.
“You know he’s got that kind of spell in him. Once he gets his tail up, he’s an impact bowler. He did that so often for Yorkshire.
“He can go bang, bang and charges off halfway round the field!”
Brooks added: “I suppose taking wickets against Yorkshire does give me a bit of extra pleasure – especially that of Adam Lyth because we are such good mates.
“It was a filthy way to get Harry Brook out, but he is in serious nick so we’ll take that.”
