Dominic Mark Bess (born 22 July 1997) is an English professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who has played internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, having previously played for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. Bess made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut in 2018. He plays as a right-handed

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, bowling

off break Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to ...

Early and personal life

From

Sidmouth Sidmouth () is a town on the English Channel in Devon, South West England, southeast of Exeter. With a population of 13,258 in 2021, it is a tourist resort and a gateway to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. A large part of the town has ...

in Devon, Bess joined Somerset's academy when he was 16. He went to spend time at

Darren Lehmann Darren Scott Lehmann (born 5 February 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 an ...

’s Adelaide academy in 2015. He has attributed his career as a spinner to the shorter run up required compared to fast bowling: "I was always a little porker when I was younger, so I never took the long run-up," he said. "I always took five or six steps and just trotted in." He was also a keen rugby player in his youth, playing fly-half, and attributes former Somerset fitness coach Darren Veness as the biggest influence on his strength and conditioning improvements.

Cricket career

Domestic career

On 3 July 2016 Bess made his first-class debut for Somerset during Pakistan's tour of England. He failed to take a wicket (ending with match figures of 0-128) and scored a combined 25 runs. He made his T20 debut for Somerset in their final game of the 2016 season against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

on 29 July 2016 in which he took bowling figures of 1-31 and scored a solitary run.

Championship debut

Bess took 13 wickets in the later stages of the 2016 County Championship. He was included in the team for his first Championship game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. His first two championship wickets were

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team and is the current head coach of the Afghanistan cricket team. Domestical ...

and

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

, and he took career best figures of 6-28 from 16 overs in the first innings, and finished with match figures of 8-59 off 27 overs. Bess also featured heavily in Somerset's last game of the season against the already relegated

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

as he took his second career five wicket haul with 1st innings figures of 5-43 from 22.5 overs including a spell of 5 consecutive maidens, giving him match figures of 5-77 from 32.5 overs. He also scored 41 runs in Somerset's first innings. At the end of the 2016 season, Bess signed his first professional contract with Somerset agreeing a two-year deal; keeping him at the club until the end of the 2018 season. On 8 May 2019, Bess went on loan to

for a month. In August 2020, Bess confirmed that he would be leaving Somerset at the end of the season, subsequently it was announced that Bess had signed a four-year contract with

. In September 2024, Bess signed a new two-year contract with Yorkshire.

International career

Having previously represented England at U-19 level, Bess was included in the England Lions squad in the summer of 2017 for a match against the touring South Africa A team, though he did not play. He was then selected for the Lions squads for the winter tours to Australia and the West Indies. He took 5/88 on his England Lions debut, in Antigua. Called up after an injury to his county teammate

Jack Leach Matthew Jack Leach (born 22 June 1991) is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket, he represents Somerset. Leach made his Test debut in 2018. He plays as a left-arm ort ...

, Bess made his Test debut for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

on 24 May 2018 at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

. Though he shared a century stand with

Jos Buttler Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...

in England's second innings – making a score of 57 – Bess failed to take a wicket or stop his side succumbing to a nine-wicket defeat. However, in the second Test of the series, Bess took his first Test wicket, of Imam-ul-Haq. Overall in the match, he took 3 wickets and contributed 49 with the bat, as a nightwatchman. England went on to win the match by an innings and 55 runs. In January 2020, in the third Test against South Africa, Bess took his maiden

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

in Test cricket. On 29 May 2020, Bess was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 17 June 2020, Bess was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the

series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Bess was named in England's thirteen-man squad for the first Test match of the series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bess, Dom 1997 births Living people English cricketers England Test cricketers Somerset cricketers Cricketers from Exeter Devon cricketers People educated at Blundell's School North v South cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Southern Rocks cricketers