Dom Bess half-century guides Yorkshire to crucial win

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Unbeaten 53 seals victory in rollercoaster clash with Essex after James Wharton, Shan Masood fifties

Dom Bess gets low to paddle-scoop  •  Getty Images

Yorkshire 244 for 7 (Wharton 73, Masood 58, Bess 53) beat Essex 243 for 9 (Benkenstein 68, Das 67, Coad 3-41, Cliff 3-54) by three wickets

A nerveless List A career best of 53 not out from Dom Bess guided Yorkshire to a crucial win in a rollercoaster Metro Bank One-Day Cup clash with Essex as they chased 244 to win by three wickets at Scarborough and maintain their qualification hopes.

Both sides encountered batting problems in an enthralling contest played on a competitive pitch.

The Vikings fell from 102 for 2 to 184 for 7, losing Shan Masood for 58 and James Wharton for a career-best 71 off 89 balls. Seamer Shane Snater impressed with three wickets for Essex, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a fourth defeat in five matches in Group B.

After losing three early wickets having been inserted, Robin Das and Luc Benkenstein made 67 off 92 balls and 68 off 94 respectively in Essex’s 243 for 9, which saw new-ball pair Ben Cliff and Ben Coad claim three wickets apiece for Yorkshire, who have now won three from five.

Coad also contributed 26 not out in an eighth-wicket stand of 60 inside nine overs with Bess, who hit six fours in 55 balls.

Essex opener Feroze Khushi played on to Cliff in the fourth over to start this contest before further wickets fell shortly afterwards as Essex fell to 27 for 3.

Nick Browne miscued Coad to midwicket and captain Tom Westley slashed Cliff to point.

Das and Benkenstein rebuilt with caution, though Das pulled Matthew Revis for six and ramped Cliff for four over the wicketkeeper’s head.

Das reached his fifty off 67 balls, and by the time Benkenstein followed him to the same milestone, off 71, Essex were 150 for 3 in the 32nd over.

But, in the following over, Das picked out deep cover off the seam of Revis, ending a fourth-wicket partnership of 125.

The good work of Das and Benkenstein would be undone by the loss of four wickets for only five runs in 12 balls as left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty, Coad and Cliff all struck.

Benkenstein’s departure came in a damaging spell which saw Essex crumble to 190 for 8 in the 42nd over.

Moriarty had a reverse-sweeping Noah Thain brilliantly caught by a diving Wharton at deep backward point before Coad had Benkenstein caught at wide mid-on in that collapse.

Ben Allison’s useful unbeaten 27 gave Essex something to work with, and he was one of four batters to post career-best scores alongside Benkenstein, Das and Simon Fernandes with 18.

Essex’s hopes were raised when Yorkshire slipped to 18 for 2 inside seven overs of their reply. Snater claimed both wickets – Harry Duke smartly caught at second slip above his head by Thain and Fin Bean caught at mid-on.

Masood and Wharton then shared 84 in similar fashion to the earlier Benkenstein-Das alliance – composed but not becalmed.

Masood’s 46-ball fifty was his third in succession in this campaign, while Wharton pulled Aaron Beard’s seam for six to reverse the pressure.

But the pendulum was about to swing again, as the Vikings lost four wickets for 21, including Masood, to slip to be 123 for 6 in the 31st over.

Westley’s off-spin accounted for Masood lbw and Will Luxton caught at cover before Snater returned to bowl George Hill with an angled-in beauty and Richards removed Revis.

Wharton pulled a couple of sixes in his 79-ball fifty to keep home hopes alive. But when he was brilliantly caught at mid-on by a leaping Browne off Thain’s medium pace, the Vikings were 184 for 7 in the 40th over and under the cosh.

But, in keeping with the day’s flow, the game wasn’t over.

Bess, having shared 61 with Wharton, played the guiding hand in partnership with Coad. He worked the ball expertly – to delight the majority of a 3,113 crowd – and reached his fifty with the winning hit off Allison.