Dom Bess believes spin could come into play more during the latter stages of Yorkshire’s ongoing Rothesay County Championship opener against Glamorgan at Cardiff.
Bess, the off-spin bowling all-rounder, claimed three wickets in Glamorgan’s first-innings 302 all out.
All of his wickets came today, with obvious signs of turn on a slow pitch.
Yorkshire then replied with an embryonic 1-0 from only 10 balls, with bad light ending day two the best part of 15 overs early at 6pm.
Glamorgan overseas batter Colin Ingram posted a determined century to help the hosts recover from 28-4 late on day one.
Bess, who took on captaincy duties today with Jonny Bairstow nursing a right thumb injury, said: “The wicket is a good one, it’s slow.
“I guess people who don’t follow the game ball-by-ball will think that at 28-4, we should roll them.
“But, actually, as we saw the new ball sort of wear off, I think it’s a good wicket to bat on.
“I think the game could potentially speed up at the back end.
“Hopefully we bat well, and then I think it will start spinning more.”
Bess continued: “The fact we kept them at 2.5 runs per over for pretty much 120 overs, I think shows the quality of our bowling.
“I thought Colin Ingram played beautifully, with real temperament.”
On his own performance, with all his wickets coming from the River End, he said: “I’ve worked with Mickey Lewis, I’ve worked with Tom Smith, I’ve worked with a lot of guys about my pace this year and how I want to go about it.
“I thought I sort of showed that today, and it’s how I want to carry on this summer.
“Obviously with the wind and stuff, that bottom end was pretty tricky. At times, it was very windy down there. So it’s my role to hold that bottom end if I can.
“Obviously there was a bit of spin as well, so it was sort of individually quite a good day.”
The blustery conditions Bess spoke of certainly made Logan van Beek’s long-leg catch even better, the Dutch overseas star taking a one-handed screamer to help George Hill get rid of Andy Gorvin.
“Unbelievable catch!” exclaimed Bess.
“It’s funny isn’t it. We dropped a couple of simple ones, but then we’ve taken some absolute hangers.
“That’s a positive sign. If you’re taking the screamers – the half chances – a bit more work on the rest and everything will come together.”