Picture by Jack Rubio/Hampshire Cricket. Dom Bess is congratulated after taking one of three morning wickets.
Dom Bess led Yorkshire over the line with five final-day wickets as they defended a 278-target to beat Hampshire at the Utilita Bowl in Southampton by 39 runs shortly before tea.
The county’s third win in nine Rothesay County Championship matches has them looking up the Division One table rather than down, with their 19 points to three haul opening up a 33-point gap between themselves and bottom side Hampshire. Ironically, Yorkshire started the weekend 19 points clear of second-bottom Hampshire. They ended it 17 clear of second-bottom Leicestershire, who beat Glamorgan.
Hampshire started day four on 106-3 and were bowled out 238 inside 99 overs, losing their last three wickets for three runs, including danger-man Andrew Neal for 39.
Off-spinning all-rounder Bess finished with a season’s best 5-103 from 46 overs, while Adam Lyth took the winning wicket to spark jubilant celebrations. Bess also captained the side from the moment Jonny Bairstow left the field with a thumb injury on day two.
The White Rose also avenged an early-season defeat to Hampshire at Headingley and are joint sixth in the table on 108 points.
Yorkshire made the ideal start to the day when Tom Prest danced down the pitch at Bess and tried to hit him over the top, only to miscue a skied catch to Matthew Revis at mid-on, leaving the score at 114-4 in the 42nd over, the fifth of the day.
Picture by Jack Rubio/Hampshire Cricket. Ben Cliff celebrates taking the catch to help Dom Bess remove Toby Albert.
Albert, 36 overnight, then reached his fifty in 138 balls to help Hampshire settle into the day.
Albert’s captain Ben Brown was next to go, well caught at leg slip by Will Luxton after a miscued pull at Bess – 148-5 some 40 minutes before the lunch break.
Fin Bean, meanwhile, continued to deputise behind the stumps for Bairstow.
The skipper, however, will have been watching on from the sidelines delighted with his side’s efforts.
Bess claimed his third wicket of the day when Albert swept him to Ben Cliff at a deepish backward square-leg, with the hosts now 153-6 and still 125 short of their target.
Unfortunately, six wickets should have been seven at lunch because Neal on 19 was reprieved in the final over of the session by umpires Shantry and Warren, who ruled a no catch after the batter edged Bess into Bean’s right foot and saw it ricochet up to George Hill at slip.
Picture by Jack Rubio/Hampshire Cricket. Flying high with George Hill! Yorkshire’s players celebrate a Hampshire wicket as they completed a day-four victory.
Replays show it was out, and the telling thing at the time was the instant jubilant reaction from the Yorkshire players.
White Rose supporters would have feared a game-changing moment, with Neal having the power to really put the pressure on – as he showed not long before the aforementioned incident when he slog-swept Bess for six over mid-wicket.
Yorkshire did remove the other not out batter Felix Organ not longer after as he miscued Jafer Chohan’s leg-spin to mid-on – 187-7.
But Neal made the most of his reprieve.
He found another partner in Kyle Abbott, and they really tightened the game up, eking out the runs. They shared 48 for the eighth wicket, only for Bess to get Neal caught at deep mid-wicket on the slog-sweep.
Bess then trapped Abbott lbw for 22 before Lyth forced Eddie Jack to chop on to wrap things up, Hampshire falling from a position of hope at 235-7 to one of despair at 238 all out.
Picture by Jack Rubio/Hampshire Cricket. Dom Bess impressed with the ball today.
With five games remaining, they are rooted in the relegation zone and are staring a season of Division Two cricket in 2027 full in the face.
Yorkshire, meanwhile, have elevated themselves into mid-table and can look ahead to the remainder of the campaign with high hopes. They are joint fifth with Sussex.
The title is certainly not beyond them. They are 27 points behind leaders Nottinghamshire.
