England's young off-spinner Dom Bess was delighted to be back bowling again after months of break due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as he has been turning up for Jos Buttler’s XI in their lone intra-squad match at the Ageas Bowl ahead of Test series against the West Indies.
After making a mark in international cricket against New Zealand and South Africa in Tests, Bess has been continued to push his claims for the series-opening Test of the three-match Test series against the Windies with his impressive display in the intra-squad warm-up match.
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He is currently competing with Amar Virdi, Moeen Ali and Jack Leach for a spinner’s spot in England’s XI for the Southampton Test against the Windies, but his warm-up show and recent performances could give the 22-year-old edge over all of them for the series opener on July 8.
Neither Leach nor Moeen were good on day one of England’s intra-squad match, as both went wicketless at the Ageas Bowl, while Bess looked impressive with the ball, taking 2 wickets for 60 runs in 20 overs to help Buttler’s XI to bowl out Ben Stokes’ Buttler’s XI for 233 in reply of his team’s 287.
While the young spinner has staked his claim to reclaim England’s number one spinner spot, the hosts might pick between Leach and Bess for the first Test against the Windies at The Ages Bowl.
Bess stated, “The big thing I want to do is push that spot and make it my own, In my head, I want to start. That’s normal when you’re in our position you want to be making the XI. It would be a good achievement and it brings a lot of responsibility to make sure I’m still bowling the best I can.”
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He further added, “There is amazing competition here and that’s good. There’s no spitefulness, nothing like that, we help each other, we’re looking to improve each other. It’s a really big challenge for me, making sure when I come into this arena, into these practice games, that I focus on what I can do. I think I’ve done that really well so far and I just want to put myself in the best possible position so that when that selection does come I’ve given it my all.”
The spinner also admitted that he was a bit nervous to bowl after a more than three-month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic but felt he bounced back strongly.
He further explained, “After so much time off I was a bit nervous coming back into it. It’s been nice to feel the ball coming out nicely in my hand. In the month I had at Somerset I was pushing my coach, Jason Kerr, to keep bowling more. I had to be told a couple of times to stop and just build my way back. I wanted to get that feel back, that rhythm, the little things.”
Bess signed off by saying, “It was a really good challenge bowling at Stokesy (Ben Stokes). I thought I genuinely did him with one and he somehow hit me on the up over extra-cover for six. I was just thinking ‘this is why he’s one of the best in the world. He’s absolutely nowhere near it and he still middles it for six’. It was a good test for me and I think I bounced back strong.”
(With PA Media Inputs)
