Picture by John Heald. Fin Bean celebrates scoring his double century against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge earlier this week and returns to his home ground at York brimming with confidence. (Home page cover picture by Jack Bird).
If it wasn’t for York Cricket Club, Fin Bean wouldn’t be at York Cricket Club this weekend.
“No, probably not,” smiled the man-of-the-moment as he looked ahead to Yorkshire’s blockbuster Rothesay County Championship clash with Essex at Clifton Park, starting tomorrow (11am).
The basic theory being that when opener Bean opted to leave the county game as a teenager with Yorkshire in late 2020 to experience life in the real world as a mechanic, he carried on playing club cricket at York and developed his game enough to attract the county’s attention once more.
Now look at him.
Six Championship centuries later, including a brilliant career best 224 in the most recent draw against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge earlier this week, and – brimming with confidence – he is preparing to grace the ground he knows so well.
“Obviously, they’ve done a lot for me,” he said of the Yorkshire Premier League North club, one he has been with for the last decade having initially learnt the game at Studley Royal.
Picture by John Heald. Fin Bean pulls against spin at Trent Bridge.
“They backed me as a young player when I was scratching around, couldn’t get it off the square.
“They backed me in the first team, and it’s just set me up, really. So, yeah, thanks to York.”
Bean has only played once for York in this season’s YPLN, scoring three in a clash at Knaresborough in early May. He batted in the middle order in a match which they lost, owing much to a century from a certain Jonny Tattersall.
So, he hasn’t actually played at Clifton Park this year.
“It will definitely be a proud moment for me,” he said, looking ahead to facing head coach Anthony McGrath’s former charges. “It’s my home club, so I can’t really beat it.
“Get a few down there and have a good week.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. The sunny scene at Clifton Park earlier this month when Yorkshire faced Durham in a Vitality Blast fixture.
“It’ll be good for York and hopefully good for us.”
This is all set up to be a cracker-jack fixture, with Yorkshire ninth in the Division One table and Essex eighth after eight of 14 games.
Yorkshire, for whom Pakistani overseas batter Abdullah Shafique will debut, occupy the second relegation position, the gap between themselves and the Chelmsford side standing at 14 points.
Win it and the White Rose county’s bid to preserve their Division One status will be given a huge shot in the arm. Lose it, though, and they are behind the eight-ball.
This is only the second ever Championship match at Clifton Park, with Warwickshire winning a pulsating clash by three wickets in June 2019 as they chased 217 on the final day.
While Yorkshire ended a two-game losing streak with a morale-boosting draw against leaders Notts at Trent Bridge last time out, Essex drew at home with Hampshire, the visitors starting Wednesday’s final day at Chelmsford with high hopes of a victory.
Picture by Aamir Qureshi/Getty Images. Abdullah Shafique will debut for Yorkshire against Essex.
They have South African duo Dean Elgar (opening batter) and Simon Harmer (off-spinner) in their line-up, though only the latter classes as an overseas player.
Wicketkeeper-batter Michael Pepper is their leading run-scorer with 531 from eight matches. He scored a final-day 140 to help stave off defeat against Hampshire on Wednesday.
New-ball seamer Jamie Porter is their leading wicket-taker this season with 30.
Yorkshire head coach McGrath said: “It’s a big, big game. It’s an exciting one as well.
“Both teams are probably disappointed with their starts to the season and where they think they should be. It’s a chance for both teams to prove that they’re better than they’re showing.
“Having seen the wicket at York for the T20 we had against Durham, I think it should be a good cricket wicket. Hopefully there’s a bit more in it for the bowlers, and it should be a really good game.
Picture by Alex Davidson/Getty Images. Ex-South Africa Test captain Dean Elgar will open the batting for Essex.
“Speaking to people up at York, they’re confident that if the game goes four days, it should be a good game, but hopefully there’s a result in there too.”
Unfortunately, Pakistani overseas batter Shafique will only play one match when it should have been two had visa issues not got in the way. But he will also play the final four matches of the Vitality Blast North Group campaign.
McGrath added: “We know we’ve been light on runs, probably in both formats, particularly in that middle order. So he should have that international class and give us some experience as well.”
Australian all-rounder Will Sutherland will also play at York, replacing New Zealand fast bowler Will O’Rourke, who played his only Championship game at Trent Bridge.
Yorkshire and Essex played out a mid-May draw at Chelmsford, which the visitors had much the better of but were unable to force a result on the final day.
Essex, set 520 to win, held on at on 273-9.
Picture by Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com. Australian all-rounder Will Sutherland will play his only Championship match for Yorkshire at York.
YORKSHIRE v ESSEX – FIRST-CLASS CRICKET 1894-May 31st 2025 – STATS PACK
Results (home and away) County Championship: Played 168; Yorkshire won 85, Essex won 29, Drawn 54 (Abandoned 2). In addition, the counties have played 2 non-Championship matches, both won by Yorkshire.
Most recent results: 2025 at Chelmsford, match drawn; 2022 at Headingley, Essex won by one wicket. Yorkshire’s most recent victory; 2018 at Chelmsford, by 91 runs.
Most successive wins: Yorkshire 7 (1931-4), Essex 3 (1896-7 & 1988-90).
Two wins in a season: Yorkshire 20 times, Essex 2.
Highest innings totals: For Yorkshire, 555-1dec at Leyton in 1932. For Essex, 622-8dec at Headingley in 2005.
Lowest inning totals: For Yorkshire, 31 at Huddersfield in 1935. For Essex, 30 at Leyton 1901.
Highest individual score: For Yorkshire, 313 by H Sutcliffe at Leyton in 1932. For Essex, 219* by DJ Insole at Colchester (Castle Park) in 1949
Highest partnerships: For Yorkshire, 555 for the first wicket between P Holmes (224*) and H Sutcliffe (313) at Leyton in 1932. (This was first-class a world record for the first wicket at the time). For Essex, 246 for the second wicket between JP Stephenson (116) and PJ Prichard (128) at Colchester (Castle Park) in 1991.
Best bowling figures (innings): For Yorkshire, 9-28 by W Rhodes at Leyton in 1899. For Essex, 8-44 by FG Bull at Bradford in 1896.
Best bowling figures (match): For Yorkshire, 17-91 (8-47 and 9-44) by H Verity at Leyton in 1933. (This is a record for Yorkshire in all first-class cricket). For Essex, 14-127 (7-37 and 7-90) by W Mead at Leyton in 1899.
Hat tricks: For Yorkshire, 3 by A Drake at Huddersfield in 1912, MW Booth at Leyton in 1912 and GA Cope at Colchester (Garrison Ground) in 1970. For Essex, 2 by JWHT Douglas at Leyton in 1905 and MS Nichols at Headingley in 1931.
Most dismissals in an innings by a wicketkeeper: For Essex, 6 (all caught) by BJ Hyam at Scarborough in 1998. Nobody has taken more than 5 for Yorkshire.
Most dismissals in a match by a wicketkeeper: For Essex, 8 (all caught) by BJ Hyam at Scarborough 1998 and JS Foster at Chelmsford in 2017. Nobody has taken more than 6 for Yorkshire.
Most catches in an innings by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 5 by AB Sellers at Leyton in 1933. Nobody has taken more than 4 for Essex.
Most catches in a match by a fielder: For Yorkshire, 7 by AB Sellers at Leyton in 1933. Nobody has taken more than 5 for Essex.
A hundred runs and 10 wickets in a match: For Essex, MS Nichols 146 and 11-54 (4-17 and 7-37) at Huddersfield in 1935 and TE Bailey 60* & 46 and 12-101 (7-40 and 5-61) at Headingley in 1960.
A century and five wickets in an innings: For Yorkshire, C White 108* and 0 and 5-40 and 2-28 at Headingley in 1994. For Essex, MS Nichols 146 and 4-17 and 7-37 at Huddersfield in 1935.
Note: Essex have never previously played a first-class match at Clifton Park, as the only previous such match was Yorkshire versus Warwickshire in 2019 when Warwickshire won by three wickets.
Yorkshire 259 (OJ Hannon-Dalby 5-76) and 211, Warwickshire 254 and 219-7 (WMH Rhodes 83, DP Sibley 81).
There was also a County Championship match played at the Wigginton Road ground in York in 1890 when Yorkshire beat Kent by eight wickets.
Kent 46 and 167 (R Peel 5-27), Yorkshire 114 (F Martin 6-48) and 100-2.
Compiled by Paul Dyson, Peter Horne and Martyn Webster, members of the Association of Cricket Statisticians & Historians.
