Simply the Bess
Somerset’s 22-year-old is the youngest spinner to take five wickets for England in 52 years
Dom Bess became the latest player of the new generation to grab his chance in this match when he became the youngest England spinner to take a five-wicket haul for 52 years.
Bess has claimed five of the six wickets to fall but with the weather forecast worsening for the final two days of the match, South Africa remain hopeful of saving this game. The fact they have much chance at all is down to England missing four catches at slip, and two half-chances at short leg.
They are 92 short of the follow-on target of 300 with Quinton de Kock 63 not out after a wonderfully well-paced innings but also the outrageous fortune of being dropped three times at slip by Ben Stokes, owner of the safest pair of hands in England.
De Kock built on the resistance shown by nightwatchman Anrich Nortje, who ate up 136 balls over 3¼ hours, which could turn out to be a crucial stop on England’s progress. At 208 for six South Africa remain alive.
The new ball might only be three deliveries old but the rain reduces England’s chances in two ways. First, it takes time out of the game and second, it dampens the outfield, making re- verse swing for Mark Wood and Stokes harder to generate.
Joe Root has only once enforced the follow-on as England captain but it remains the most likely route to a 2-1 series lead otherwise the good work by Bess and Ollie Pope could all end up being washed away.
Looking to the immediate future, Bess has assured himself a place in the Test side for the next tour to Sri Lanka and set up an interesting battle over who will be England’s No 1 spinner next summer.
Moeen Ali has fallen out of love with Test cricket and is still unsure whether he wants to play for England in this format again. Jack Leach has battled ill health all winter, which is a concern going to Sri Lanka in March. Bess has timed his run perfectly. His five for 51 made him the third-youngest English spinner to take a five-wicket haul in Test cricket and the youngest to do so overseas. Those are impressive accolades for a player who flew to South Africa as a standby bowler, picked on the basis of reports from a spin bowling camp in early December.
Bess’s performance was the reward for six months’ hard work and for walking a long road since being dropped to Somerset’s second team and going on loan to Yorkshire last summer.
In August, Somerset met with Andy Flower and Mo Bobat, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s performance director, and mapped out his winter. Bess was sent on a Lions spin camp to India in December where he was coached by Richard Dawson, the Gloucestershire coach and former England off-spinner, and tutored in the art of spin bowling by Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath.
England recruited Herath to work with their young spinners because as a bowler he relied on accuracy, subtleties of flight and varying his pace for his wickets rather than mystery deliveries, making him able to relate to bowlers such as Bess. Herath talked about the know-how of taking wickets: building pressure and outthinking batsmen. Bess has a smart cricket brain and clearly listened.
Dawson provided technical and pastoral support, lifting Bess’s confidence and belief. Bess’s seam position was tweaked, the coaches worked on how he delivered the ball out of the hand and angles at the crease. It was all aimed at bowling in the subcontinent and the low, slow Port Elizabeth pitch has similarities to those in Asia.
In the Cape Town Test, Bess supplied control rather than chased wickets with magic balls, showing a much better temperament than when he first played for England. His action was visibly stronger too. He has taken his chance on a more responsive pitch against South African batsmen with a track record of troubles against spin.
His confidence buoyed by two overnight wickets, Bess had Dean Elgar caught off bat and pad by Pope taking a smart catch low down proving the benefit of having a close catcher who keeps wicket.
Faf du Plessis walked out averaging 72 in Port Elizabeth but these are different times for a captain under pressure. He tried hitting his way back into form, slotting Bess down the ground for two fours. It did not last.
Bess moved over the wicket, changing his line and bowled a little wider. Du Plessis went hard at a ball that turned and clipped the inside edge where Pope grabbed another catch.
Root dropped Nortje at slip on three making Bess wait for his fifth wicket but Rassie van der Dussen copied his captain by taking on the spin with a flurry of boundaries before departing. He chopped on a ball that bounced and turned, making Bess the youngest spinner to take five wickets for England since Pat Pocock in 1968.
A three-hour rain delay took the impetus out of England and the pitch lost a bit of its bite for Bess. Nortje showed real courage as he faced down a “Bodyline” barrage from Wood before Root belatedly turned to Stokes to winkle the nightwatchman out.
Even Stokes has bad days though. He dropped De Kock on 30 off Root, when he failed to get down quick enough to a low chance. He got a palm to a chance over his head when on 56 De Kock drove at a ball from Bess that bounced more than he was expecting.
Finally, in the gloomy evening light, Stokes fumbled a catch to his left off Joe Denly, becoming the first England fielder to drop three catches in a day since Alastair Cook in 2008.