Dom Bess has praised the work of Yorkshire’s bowlers after being rewarded on day two at Essex.
After Essex started the second day of this LV= Insurance County Championship fixture on 234-3, the hosts were bowled out for 403 shortly before tea.
Yorkshire struck six times during the afternoon to erode home dominance before finishing the day on 81-3 in reply.
Both sides have had to contend with a slow and low pitch at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford.
Bess bowled a mammoth 44 overs of off-spin and returned the pick of the Yorkshire figures, 3-82.
Steve Patterson also went at fewer than two runs an over – 2-48 from 31 overs – while Jordan Thompson matched Bess’s trio of scalps and impressed.
Bess and Thompson both struck twice in an over during the afternoon session, Yorkshire’s most productive period of this Division One fixture so far.
“It’s a good wicket,” said the former Somerset man.
“We didn’t really know what to expect turning up yesterday. There’s a lot of live grass on it, and we thought it would do more than it has.
“Saying that, as a group, I think we bowled well.
“Patto bowled well, Tommo looked threatening and Hilly and Rev coming in and doing a job when they needed to.
“We created many opportunities, which is a real positive. It’s just taking hold of those.
“We had a couple throughout the innings, which has carried on for a couple of games now. And it’s been addressed. If we take them, we’re going to put ourselves in some serious positions.
“Simon Harmer played a really good knock with Steketee at the end. But, at one point, we were looking at bowling them out for 350-360. It’s tough work, but we stuck at it.”
Bess has now bowled 169 overs in three-and-a-half games so far this season, taking nine wickets and going at 2.10 runs per over.
When asked what he has learnt during the opening stages of the 2022 campaign, he smiled: “How to hold your best ball for seriously long periods of time!
“I’ve bowled 44 overs here, and my number one rule is to keep bowling your best ball and create opportunities.
“From a personal point of view, it’s really positive. I’ve put a lot of graft in, and we have a couple of games in mid-July where it could spin and hopefully the back end of the season as well.”
The late loss of Dimuth Karunaratne was clearly not ideal, following quickly on from George Hill’s departure.
Bess added: “We will obviously rebuild tomorrow with Rooty coming out at five.
“We then have Mala at six and Brooky at seven. We will try and take it really deep with our long batting line-up. We have to bat long and bat big.”
