Yorkshire 158 and 159 for 6 (Brook 76*) lead Northamptonshire 170 (Vasconcelos 55, Bess 7-43) by 147 runs
This is a high-pressure match as far as the Championship is concerned, but don’t talk to Dom Bess about pressure. He experienced what pressure really means in India during a deeply unsettling England winter. The sort of pressure that does not just have a cricket match at stake but which tears at your very soul.
It is something to celebrate therefore that when expectations focused on him as much as at any time this season, his rehabilitation at Yorkshire looked well underway as he turned in career-best figures of 7 for 43 on a used Northampton pitch, the sort that turned just enough for spin bowlers to take centre stage but demanded resilience if they were to succeed.
If there was not much turn for Bess on a surface that had previously been used for three T20 fixtures, he bowled with impressive consistency to make use of what variations there were and held Yorkshire together in the face of a stiff Northants challenge.
Bess was contentiously dropped by England after taking 17 wickets at 22 runs apiece in three Tests in Sri Lanka and India. His return for the final Test in Ahmedabad was an unhappy one and, although England called him up as cover for the second Test in New Zealand in the Spring, a restorative season was clearly needed.
Progress until now has been solid rather than spectacular, but he had reason for satisfaction after working through the Northants order in methodical fashion. Jeetan Patel, England’s spin bowling coach, was on hand and will have been encouraged by what he saw.
Yorkshire sneaked past Northants by one run at Headingley in early May, but they have entered their final two Group 3 matches with Northants and Lancashire also contesting the top-two finish required to qualify for Division One in the climax of the Championship season later this summer. With Yorkshire 147 ahead at the close of the second day, with four second-innings remaining, another tension-wracked finale is eminently possible. They would grab a 200-run lead with open arms.
The muse was also with Harry Brook once again as unbeaten 76 followed up Bess’ performance with the ball. The leading run-maker in the Blast, he has also had his best Championship season to date, averaging not far short of 40, but is still to add to his two first-class hundreds.
There is a meditative quality to his game, which is based on timing not power, which brings occasional reminders of Michael Vaughan. As he has grown into the season, his little tics and twitches appear to have lessened. Regularly blazing it for four can have that effect.
He played with minimal risk, his first half-dozen boundaries coming from deflections or routine punishment of the strayest deliveries. His next boundary, on 57, was his one heartstopping moment as he pulled Ben Sanderson just beyond the dive of Emilio Gay at deep backward square.
Yorkshire’s attempt to shore up a weakened batting line-up with a two-match loan deal for Sam Northeast has not paid dividends here at least – he still has next week’s Roses match at Headingley left to make an impression. He has made 3 and 2 here, his second-innings dismissal a frustrating one as Simon Kerrigan turned one past his defensive push and his back foot was deemed not to be behind the line.
Kerrigan’s left-arm spin has 4 for 31 in 20 overs to date. George Hill, the main source of resistance in the first innings, and Harry Duke were bowled through the gate, looking for turn, and he then turned one a shade to have Gary Ballance leg before.
Spin bowling might be dominating but many wickets have fallen to the one that didn’t turn rather than the one that did, or might have done.
Northants, 61 for 2 at the start of the second day, were essentially three down as Luke Procter was absent for a day at least because of a family bereavement. One of those wickets was Kerrigan, a nightwatchman, and Yorkshire’s advantage was only 97.
Bess dominated the morning. Brought into the attack for the fifth over, he persisted until the end of the innings, taking six of the seven wickets to fall.
For nine overs, Northants’ overnight pair, Ricardo Vasconcelos and nightwatchman Gareth Berg, made Yorkshire sweat and it smacked of unnecessary risk when Berg sought to hit Bess over the top and holed out at mid-on. Bess’ total lack of celebration communicated that, in his mind, this was just the start of a process he felt he had to deliver.
He struck twice more in his next three overs. He found Charlie Thurston’s outside edge, pushing forward, for Duke to take the catch, and Yorkshire’s 19-year-old keeper also held on for the prize wicket of Vasconcelos, for 55, clutching the ball to his chest at the second attempt after Vasconcelos had been cramped up, trying to cut.
At the Wantage Road End, Duanne Olivier drew occasional inconsistent bounce. That did for Rob Keogh, who fended a lifter to second slip. At 110 for 6, still 48 adrift, Northants needed a partnership and it came from Tom Taylor, the one batter to play with occasional freedom, and Saif Zaib, who laboured for 40 balls over his first three runs before he tried to break Bess’ shackles and just cleared mid-off.
The tension was evident when Olivier was refused a catch at the wicket when Zaib was on 2. Adam Lyth, from second slip, provided the histrionics, but presumably Olivier provided the verbals. Certainly, something caused umpires Billy Taylor and Tom Lungley to call up Patterson and Olivier for a dressing-down, enough to take Lyth’s gesticulating into a second act.
Bess took a hand immediately after lunch, having Zaib lbw, caught on the crease, and removing the left-handed Wayne Parnell in the same manner in his next over. A few late blows from Taylor took Northants into the lead, but Bess limited the damage to a 12-run advantage on first innings when Ben Sanderson was caught at slip. All is still to play for
David Hopps writes on county cricket for ESPNcricinfo @davidkhopps
