BBC Radio Leeds’ Yorkshire correspondent Jonathan Doidge was speaking to Dan Moriarty and joked: “Dan, interesting day’s play – the first time I think there’s been spin twins playing at Headingley since the days of WG Grace. What did you make of it all?”
An exaggeration, maybe, but the point was a valid one. Two spinners here in Championship cricket is a rarity. It’s not happened since August 2013.
But, here, against Glamorgan, Ottis Gibson and Shan Masood have gone down a path less trodden in an attempt to secure Yorkshire’s first win of 2024.
They have paired left-arm spinner Moriarty with off-spinner Dom Bess on the same pitch used for last week’s draw against Derbyshire. And both struck, as Glamorgan closed a shortened day on 109-4.
Both bowled very nicely, thank you, and the early signs are good.
“We have opted for a slightly different approach to this game given that we have the two spinners in the squad,” said Moriarty, who claimed the wicket of Billy Root caught at short-leg for 51.
“Headingley is notoriously more seamer-friendly, but we looked at a couple of interesting statistics and thought it best to use Bessy and myself a bit more and back our batters to be good enough to out bat the other team.
“We think it’s the best way to win a game of cricket, and hopefully that will be proved in the next three days.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Dom Bess started his first appearance of 2024 nicely.
“The weather’s not played ball and let us down. We started well, but runs are going to be crucial on a wicket like this.
“It’s going to be important to start well tomorrow. I wouldn’t say we’re ahead or behind. This next partnership is big for them.
“If we can break it early and progress the game forwards, this wicket’s only going to deteriorate more and naturally get harder to bat on. We need to be on it tomorrow.”
Despite the expected deterioration, the former Surrey man said: “It’s still a good wicket. It’s quite easy to see the wide rough and everyone gets a bit excited. It’s a bit slow. But, if you apply yourself with the bat, you can get in and score runs.”
Bess struck to get Kiran Carlson caught and bowled late in the day, making an encouraging start to his first appearance of the season.
For Moriarty, he was introduced earlier, inside the first 10 overs in fact.
“It’s something I’ve done before, but it’s always an interesting task bowling with the brand new Dukes. I enjoy it,” he added. “The ball’s a bit harder, and I got a few to turn and bounce from the rough. It’s nice to get that responsibility to kind of glue the innings together.”
Meanwhile, Glamorgan’s Root admitted at the end of the day that there was some confusion surrounding his dismissal.
“Was I caught? I thought it was lbw,” queried the former Yorkshire junior.
