Yorkshire‘s spinners Dom Bess and Kuldeep Yadav combined with bat and ball to pile the pressure on Essex at the midway point of their crucial County Championship clash at Headingley.

Bess contributed an excellent, determined unbeaten 80 to Yorkshire’s imposing first-innings 390 all out midway through the afternoon. He shared 83 for the eighth wicket with Kuldeep, who made 36.

The pair then struck three times each, Kuldeep with his effervescent left-arm wristspin and Bess with his offbreaks as Essex crumbled to 97 for 7. Both sides are hovering just above the Division One relegation zone.

Matt Critchley claimed five for 85 with his legspin in an already depleted Essex attack which lost Jamie Porter injured before lunch.

Yorkshire advanced from an overnight 241 for 6 to reach lunch at 335 for 7. They lost George Hill, caught and bowled by Shane Snater for 40, before Bess and Kuldeep ground Essex down.

Essex weren’t helped by the loss of Porter, who pulled up in his run-up towards the end of his 21st over and had to leave the field, with Bess going on to reach a 100-ball fifty immediately before lunch.

Bess and Kuldeep were always likely to have a say in the outcome of this fixture with the ball given the spin-friendly pitch, but it was a significant bonus to Yorkshire that they impacted things positively with the bat too.

The pair shared 83 either side of lunch before Kuldeep smeared a return catch to Critchley, leaving Yorkshire on 364 for 8 in the 112th over. Yorkshire had picked up two batting bonus points, Essex two with the ball.

Bess is a compact and extremely capable batter, and he never really attacked. It was more about steady accumulation against a weary-looking bowling attack en route to his first fifty since last April. That doesn’t quite tell the story of his batting form this season, having contributed a flurry of thirties and forties from the lower middle order.

Critchley claimed the last three wickets, getting Ben Cliff caught and Jack White lbw after lunch.

Confirmation that England Test seamer Sam Cook has been parachuted into this game came during the early stages of Essex’s innings, with him replacing Mitch Killeen. However, Killeen remains a part of this game having then been named as the injury substitution for Porter.

Kuldeep, who didn’t bowl a ball in Yorkshire’s seam-dominated defeat to Surrey at The Kia Oval last week – neither did Bess for that matter – then struck with his fourth ball when Paul Walter was trapped lbw, leaving Essex at 15 for 1. That became 15 for 2 at tea, with Kuldeep bowling Tom Westley in his second over.

New man Charlie Allison briefly attacked Kuldeep after tea, including lofting him down the ground for six. But that was short-lived as he was trapped lbw on 15, with Hill removing Critchley the same way in the next over as the score slipped to 32 for 4 in the 18th over.

Dean Elgar and Luc Benkenstein settled things briefly for their side, but they needed more than a 34-run alliance, with both men falling lbw to Bess. Benkenstein went first and then Elgar on 34 before Bess bowled Snater to leave the visitors seven down and still short of three figures.

On-loan Lancashire wicketkeeper-batter George Bell played nicely for 42 not out, but Essex have a mountain to climb. They need 104 more just to avoid the follow-on.