Dom Bess' tale is the latest example in an increasing trend of Minor Counties talent in the England picture
The Devonian is the 11th Minor County star to play Test cricket in the past decade
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Your support makes all the difference.Ask most people to paint a picture of Devon and images of the long sandy beaches, surf and perhaps a cream tea will immediately spring to mind.
That, though, might all be about to change.
It was once said that a strong Yorkshire side meant a formidable England one – now the same could be said of a Minor County this has provided Joe Root’s team with a major plus in the past two weeks.
Dom Bess took his first Test wicket on Sunday afternoon, removing Imam ul-Haq lbw for 37, before going on to claim two more scalps in an innings breeze for the home side.
Each wicket was greeted with the kind of youthful enthusiasm that has already singled Bess out, not just as a highly likeable individual but also one with a huge amount of talent.
Spectators at Lords and Headingley didn’t need to watch him bat for too long at either ground to realise that.
In his hometown of Sidmouth, the streets must have emptied as the 20-year-old starlet walked to the crease, with trademark grin firmly in place.
Compare that to the grimaces from Pakistan’s bowlers as Bess scored a maiden fifty in tandem with Jos Buttler at Lords and then added a equally cultured 49 as a nightwatchman in England’s only innings at Leeds.
The emergence of Bess - the 11th player from a Minor County to play Test cricket in the past ten years - comes hard on the heels of fellow Devonian Craig Overton, who made his England debut during this winter's Ashes series.
Throw in Jamie Overton, Lewis Gregory and England under-19 pair, Tom Lammonby and Ben Green, and it's clear that this previously unheralded county is punching well above its weight.
“We sat down recently and tried to put our finger on what we were doing right down here,” says Sandy Allen, Devon’s pathway and coaching manager.
“It’s hard to quantify what we do here that helps to produce players but, in general, if you look at counties in the south west, they’re traditionally sports mad.
“Look at the Exeter Chiefs, it’s just a thriving part of the country.
“We’ve got strong links with Somerset and, with Devon being right on their doorstep, I think that’s a real driving force.
“But because a lot of these youngsters are out of the county system, they feel as though they have to work a lot harder to make it in that set-up.
“They have that work ethic and the mentality that they have to work that extra bit harder to get into the First Class game because they’re from a Minor County.
“Some kids at First Class counties at a younger age perhaps feel that it’s almost a given that they’re going to progress with that county, whereas our boys don’t have that luxury.
“Our lads have to work really hard to get into that and to get noticed, even though it’s (Somerset) is on their doorstep.”
For a man who admitted before the first Test that his major priority this season was nailing down a first team slot with Somerset, this particular Devonian has proved that anything is possible.
And after adding wickets to his runs in Pakistan’s second innings capitulation, he has already inked himself into the England Test side for the second half of the summer against India.
Little wonder he was wearing such a broad smile at the conclusion of a one-sided Leeds Test.
“Dom’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric,” says Keith Donohue, Devon’s director of cricket.
“We have been very fortunate with the crop of players that we’ve had coming through in the last seven or so years. There are fair few of our lads with Somerset and it’s great to see. To think that we’ve had two lads in the England team within six months of one another is quite incredible really.
“Craig (Overton) has made a handful of appearances for Devon Minor Counties and likewise Dom, although by the time you thought ‘crikey, this lad needs to play’, he was already on that escalator. They’ve very much local lads, though, and they’ve played an awful lot of club and age group cricket for us.”
The next cab off the rank is likely to be Lammonby, the Exeter-born Somerset batsman, who turned 18 the day before Bess took his first Test wicket and shone for England under-19s in their one-day series against India last summer.
It’s the rise of Bess, with just a handful of Somerset appearances behind him, that has really stood out in an otherwise indifferent start to the international summer.
“Dom’s call-up has really captured the imagination of everyone – he was with us in the winter doing a spin bowling masterclass and now look where he is," says Allen.
“The great thing about the likes of Dom and Craig is that they’re so relevant to the kids coming through in Devon.
“These boys aren’t that much older than these teenagers. They can see what they’ve achieved in such a short space of time and they can start believing they can do the same.”
Devon’s future, as well as England’s, looks in safe hands.
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