Picture by Harry Trump/Getty Images. Joe Root celebrates the dismissal of Craig Overton, one of his four final day wickets.
Joe Root was full of praise for Dom Bess after the pair combined to claim four wickets apiece and spin Yorkshire to victory on day four at Taunton.
Root’s off-spin accounted for 4-49 and Bess’s 4-60 as Somerset, chasing 260, slipped to 184 all out after tea, securing 19 points for the White Rose.
This was Root’s second game of the season in the Rothesay County Championship, and he contributed a second-innings 64 in addition to his first-innings 33. Bess also contributed with the bat, chipping in with a crucial second-innings 40.
“I think he’s bowled beautifully all season,” said Root, of Bess.
“I thought he bowled well last week on a wicket that gave us nothing (against Sussex at Headingley), and again today.
“As the game progressed, and there was more to work with, he did it brilliantly.
“I think he’s more in the game when he bowls it a little bit slower, and it was great to see today. He should take a huge amount of confidence from that.
“The fact that he seems a more rounded bowler now, and he can do different roles within the team, is really encouraging for him.
“Also, he’s just played more cricket.
“Everyone expects spinners to be – even if they come in to Test Cricket early – the finished article at 25-years-old. But it’s a completely different journey to a lot of players. You don’t really hit your peak until your mid-thirties. You need a bit more experience and more time out there.
“I thought he managed this game brilliantly throughout. His batting is getting better all the time as well. So there’s a lot of good stuff for him to look forward to for the rest of the year.”
Root echoed coach Anthony McGrath’s post-match quotes when he said: “Any time you’re in a deficit of over 100 runs, to find a way back into the game, get yourself into a position where you can then go on and do what we did today, it shows a lot about the character of the group and the skill level.
“We just managed the game really well.
“We adapted to the conditions throughout.
“I think we probably had the worst of it, so it was a good toss for them to win. But you needed to make the most of the first innings. And for us to restrict them to what we did was excellent (274 in reply to 162).
“We managed to create pressure and squeeze the game really well. They never really got away from us.
“From day two onwards, when we had the overheads and it started swinging around, we were able to take wickets then. But they’d not got away from us because of how consistent we’d been and how well we’d squeezed.
“Similarly today when it was spinning.
“The hard work we put in at the start of the game, the fact that the board didn’t move much, it meant we got the rewards when the pitch was deteriorating.
“It was good.
“The lads set the tone exceptionally well with the new ball today.
“It was always going to be important to try and make early inroads, but we also felt like it was going to be hard to face spin.
“If you set good fields and you blocked off the boundary options, then it was going to be very difficult for them to rotate risk-free.
“There was always going to be something in there for us.
“As I say, I thought Bessy did brilliantly.
“Going at 2.5 in his 25 overs and taking four wickets – and they were probably the most important wickets – was vital.”
The victory chance today was set up by some determined batting yesterday, with James Wharton’s excellent 92 leading the way, followed by Root’s 64 and Jhye Richardson’s 50, the latter completed first thing this morning.
On Wharton, who had previously endured a slow and disrupted start to the summer, Root said: “I’ve seen him bat for a couple of years and have known he’s a very good player.
“It’s been difficult, more through circumstance. He missed out last week, and when he came back into the team, he was in when we’d lost the toss on a pitch with 12 mm of live grass. And you’re then on a pair going into the second innings.
“But he managed his game really well second innings.
“He’s been able to rotate the strike and was constantly looking to move the board forwards in a low-risk way.
“He went up and down the gears at different times, he absorbed pressure, and then when he got his opportunities to score, he took them.
“Hopefully he takes a lot from the way he played there, and when he gets more opportunities further into the summer, he rinses and repeats and goes on and makes it a real daddy hundred.”
Root continued: “I think that was very much a result pitch.
“The fact we lost pretty much a full day’s play and there was still 40 wickets, it shows it was designed for that, which is fine. It made for a great game and a great spectacle.
“Whenever you win a game of cricket, you look at what have you done differently throughout compared to the previous games.
“I just think we managed it really well, like I said, the key moments in the game.
“We understood when it was going to be difficult, and we absorbed. When it was time to strike, we did, and we were pretty ruthless with it.
“We took our catches and our chances, and we scrapped hard to get to that score second innings (371 all out).
“I think it would be wrong not to mention the way Jhye batted for his fifty and Jack, facing 35 balls. They were important runs in a low-scoring game.
“To go from a 210-lead to 260, that’s a big margin. What did we win by, 75 runs. Take 30 off that and there’s a completely different complexion to it.
“I’m really chuffed for Jhye. He might not have got the rewards he’d like with the ball so far. But, to have a valuable contribution like that to add to a win, hopefully that gives him a lot of confidence as well.”
As much as Root’s wickets were valuable today, clearly scoring runs is his main role – and in three innings so far against Sussex and Somerset, he has posted scores of 96, 33 and 64.
He will be rested for Friday’s trip to face Warwickshire at Edgbaston but returns to face Surrey at Headingley a week later.
The 35-year-old added: “It’s nice, but I don’t feel great at the crease at the minute.
“The fact I’m still scoring and contributing, I think that comes with experience and having a good understanding of my own game.
“The more and more I’m playing, the more I’m starting to find a bit more rhythm.
“I’m having the next game off, so I’ve got a week to groove things over again.”
