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

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

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

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

on loan from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, having previously played for Somerset. 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 consi ...

, bowling

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

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 12,569 in 2011, 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. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection f ...

’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 county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

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 The 2016 County Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2016 Specsavers County Championship), was the 117th cricket County Championship season. It was announced in March 2016 that the 2017 season would feature only eight teams in Divi ...

. He was included in the team for his first Championship game against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. 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. Domestically, he played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club as well as ...

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 landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

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

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 country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

on 24 May 2018 at

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

. Though he shared a century stand with

Jos Buttler Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990) is an English cricketer who captains the England cricket team in limited overs cricket, and plays for the England Test team. In domestic cricket he represents Lancashire, having previously played ...

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 Imam-ul-Haq ( ur, ; born 22 December 1995) is a Pakistani international cricketer. On his One Day International (ODI) debut against Sri Lanka, he became the second batsman for Pakistan, and thirteenth overall, to score a century on debut. In A ...

. 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 batsman. 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. 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