England’s Dom Bess hoping ‘more to come’ after five-wicket haul against South Africa

“It’s funny how cricket happens,” said Dom Bess as he sat in his press conference with a maiden five-wicket haul taken in a Test match of a series he was not originally picked for after a season that drained him.

In 2019, Bess had to go on loan to Yorkshire for a month as places were hard to come by at his home county, Somerset. A break at the end of the season to clear his head was followed by a spin camp in Mumbai and then a Lions tour at the end of January to Australia.

Between those last two, though, he found himself on the receiving end of an emergency call-up to this series with South Africa as illness ravaged the camp, specifically his good friend and Taunton teammate, Jack Leach.

He’d taken his chance before this milestone by playing a holding role in the second Test, which England won to draw level. And his five wickets here were glory deserved for that graft.

“I’ll cherish it for a long time because I’ve worked very hard for days like this, but also knowing that hopefully there’s a lot more to come,” he said of a five for 51, which have eclipsed his previous best of three for 33 picked up in his second Test, against Pakistan in June 2018.

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“The work I’ve done since my debut, I guess, I understand myself, my bowling. I still think there’s a lot to work on for me to get stronger technically, but it’s hopefully the start of a journey.”

The strides he has made since that debut among the knocks along the way were clear to see. He may be only 22, but he has learned quickly. And the spin camp, which involved working with former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Rangana Herath and former England spinner Richard Dawson, seems to have paid dividends.

“Technically I’m getting a lot stronger through repetition. The media picked up in the two Tests against Pakistan that I was bowling a lot of side-spinners. I’ve worked a lot more on getting up and over it and in India that was one of the key things I was working on out there.

“The experiences I’ve had working with the likes of Richard Dawson, Jason Kerr [his Somerset head coach] who I’m still close with. I had a little bit of time with Herath and it was a ball to Faf du Plessis that worked a little bit that I’d been working on with him.”

After being hit for back-to-back fours from around the wicket, Bess changed to over and, within two balls, got a bat-pad catch to Ollie Pope – one of three of the same combination this innings – to dismiss the Proteas skipper to reduce the hosts to 71 for four. Then it was 109 for five – Rassie van der Dussen playing on – as Bess saw off the top five.

Even with rain forecast for days four and five, and 15 wickets still to get – South Africa currently trail by 291 – Bess is optimistic they can force a win to go 2-1 up with one Test to play.