Yorkshire targeting title after Hampshire win - Bess
Dom Bess (right) believes Yorkshire can mount a late title charge
- Published
Off-spinner Dom Bess insists Yorkshire are now targeting County Championship glory rather than focusing on avoiding relegation following Sunday's win over Hampshire.
In a reflection of how tight the title race is, Yorkshire's win in Southampton - billed beforehand as a relegation scrap - left them just 27 points off Nottinghamshire at the top of the table, with 28 points covering the top seven in the table.
And with five rounds of the season still to come, Bess believes realistic ambition has shifted from avoiding the drop to getting medals hung round their necks at the end of September.
"You look at that County Championship now; it is probably one of the tightest going into the [last] five weeks, so that win is absolutely massive for us," Bess told BBC Radio Leeds after Yorkshire's third win of the campaign.
"Obviously we now have to build on it, and we have a huge five weeks ahead, but those wins, moments like that, carry you. It kills you or it carries you, and fortunately we got on the other [right] end.
"We are not here to survive, and I know it's a cliche, but we are here to thrive. We want to push it. We want a medal around our neck. If you see the table, we are not far off, and we get to play everyone above.
"If we can play like that, we are dangerous. It is not about looking down; it is looking above."
Yorkshire welcome Leicestershire to North Marine Road, Scarborough, on Thursday, a match in which the White Rose hope Jack White will return from injury.
And Bess said it was important they made a strong start against dangerous opposition.
"We have to hit the ground running at Scarborough when we rock up on Tuesday and Wednesday [for training]; it is back to business. Every ball, every moment, is massive now.
"Leicestershire are a good team and a niggly team, but we are dangerous at Scarborough. Hopefully Jack [White] will be fit. But with this win and with how tight the County Championship is at the moment, we are still in reach.
"We are on a heater at the moment, and while Leicestershire will have their confidence as well, we are good to go."