AS far as Somerset are concerned, Dom Bess has turned from poacher to gamekeeper.

But he is just a touch concerned that if he throws a fatal spanner in their County Championship title works, “Tres could hunt me down!”

Yorkshire’s off-spinning all-rounder is, of course, referring to Somerset legend Marcus Trescothick, the opener who retired at the end of 2019 after years of shedding blood, sweat and tears trying to win his beloved county their first Championship crown.

Not so long ago, England’s Bess was helping him out.

Since making his first-class debut midway through 2016, Somerset have finished second in the Championship every year but one (2017).

They were also beaten Bob Willis Trophy finalists last year.

Now, the affable 24-year-old has the same goal but just in a different jersey - that of Yorkshire, whom he joined ahead of this season on a four-year contract.

And tomorrow marks his first appearance against his former county, with the two meeting at Scarborough (10.30am).

“100 percent,” he said when asked whether he always dreamt of winning the Championship with Somerset as a youngster growing up. “But now I’m trying to stop them.

“That’s just part and parcel of the professional game.

“When I was at Somerset, we did get really close to winning it. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“If I could put a performance in and go a way to stopping them, it would personally be really pleasing.”

He continued: “It will be weird, it’s going to be strange. But I’m really looking forward to it.

“I’ve text a couple of the boys already to make sure they are getting prepared because they are going to get a barrage.

“Some of my best mates are playing, and I’ve grown up with them - Ben Green, Tom Lammonby. And George Bartlett and Tom Abell are two of my best mates as well. All four of them are, really.

“Also, playing against Jack Leach, which I haven’t ever done before, is going to be interesting. I won’t be wanting to get out to him, that’s for sure.

“You have to professional about it. But if I get one of them out, they won’t be hearing the end of it.”

All of this is said with a cheeky smile on the Devonian’s face.

And that smile is brilliant to see after previous challenges.

Bess has spoken at length about the difficulties experienced during the latter stages of the winter when he was left out by England during their Test series in India.

Prior to that, he was far from a regular in Somerset’s first team given the presence of the aforementioned left-arm spinner Leach in their squad.

The yearning for regular cricket was why he opted to up sticks to Headingley.

Leach has also had his recent challenges. In and out of England’s Test team as well, he has to contend with suffering from Crohn’s disease.

In late 2019, a bout of sepsis during an England winter tour of New Zealand left him fearing for his life.

“We’re certainly at the stage of our career where we’re both pushing to play for England,” said Bess, who has taken an impressive 26 wickets and scored 364 runs with two fifties in 11 Championship matches this season.

“The situation as it is, it’s really good that we’re both back playing. That’s the biggest struggle, not playing.”

Bess v Somerset provides a fascinating sub-plot to what is a fixture both sides could do with winning.

Neither side won the opening fixture of the four-game Division One, leaving them with work to do to overhaul leaders Warwickshire (33 points) at the top.

Somerset are fourth out of six teams with 20.5 points after suffering an innings defeat inside three days at home to Nottinghamshire earlier this week.

For Yorkshire, they sit bottom of the table with 16.5, having been forced to settle for a draw against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.

Hampshire, who finished 177-9, batted out the final 7.4 overs with one wicket remaining to deny the White Rose a deserved win.

Yorkshire started the four-game campaign targeting three wins to have any chance of finishing top to win the Championship.

A consolation prize would be second place for a place in the Bob Willis Trophy final. Even to qualify for that, they could do with getting a win on the board quick sharp.

Fingers crossed that comes in their first Championship match at North Marine Road since the summer of 2019.