Growing up, Tom Hartley idolized Everton footballers Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka. But after a relatively late introduction to cricket and honing his skills while living above a pub in rural Australia, he could be a regular in England by the end of winter.
Aged 24 and having made his Lancashire debut just three years ago, the left-arm spinner made his England ODI debut against Ireland at Trent Bridge in September, posting decent figures of zero in 10 overs (48).
With a revamped ODI squad now available in Antigua ahead of the start of the three-match series on Sunday, Hartley has a chance to force his way into England’s 50-over squad after defending the team at the World Cup during his car accident in India. install.
With only six survivors of the campaign, he is one of the new faces given the chance to show what they can do in the Caribbean.
After being presented with an ODI cap by Andrew Flintoff ahead of his debut, Hartley said of the England 2005 Ashes hero: “It’s a day you’ll remember for the rest of your life.” You can walk on it for a long time.”
At 6ft 3in, an unusual height for a spinner, Hartley needs no help to walk upright. However, interacting with Flintoff early in his international career was a bonus.
Flintoff was brought into the England coaching staff late last summer after recovering from a horrific, life-threatening car accident while filming Top Gear in December 2022.
He will be with the team in the Caribbean in the coming weeks and was also recently in Abu Dhabi for an England Lions training camp, which Hartley attended.
“He had class,” Hartley said of Flintoff. “Since he gifted me an ODI cap, I feel a little more connected to him. It was a pleasure to learn from him.”
As well as being mentored by former England international Graeme Swann in Abu Dhabi, Hartley has been given the opportunity to play under Test coach Brendon McCullum ahead of England’s tour of India early next year.
“It was the first time I met him,” Hartley says. “He had some nerves, but hopefully I can impress him enough to hopefully go on tour next year.”
For a player with just 20 first-class matches under his belt and who has achieved most of his success in white-ball cricket, it would be great to be part of this five-Test series in India.
But England are keen to replicate the success of Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner who faced them in the last India-team series in 2021, as well as Hartley’s ability with his height, left-arm angle and bowling ability. He is relatively quick for a spinner, meaning he could be just the right player for McCullum to take on this tour.
It’s a challenge Hartley would certainly be prepared for. “Anyone would be willing to do this,” he says. “This is what I will strive for. The conditions in India are so different from other countries in the world. You really should watch these guys, especially Axar, who has done so well in this series. They’ll probably try to recreate the same conditions in future episodes. I think this is a good starting point to see what they do well and see if you can do something similar.
Hartley is not the only athlete in the family: father Bill is a 400m runner who won relay gold at the 1974 European Championships and silver at the Commonwealth Games the same year.
However, Hartley did not have an easy road to the professional ranks. He began playing cricket at about 10 years old at Merchant Taylors School in Crosby, Liverpool, and represented Lancashire at age group level, but was not given a contract after leaving school.
Just a few years later, after playing winter club cricket in Australia in the 2017/18 season, he caught Lancashire’s attention when he took a stack of wickets for Ormskirk in the Liverpool & District competition. The first professional deal followed in 2019.
That first winter Down Under, playing in Sale, Victoria, at the invitation of former Lancashire spinner Stephen Parry, proved a turning point. “It was basically in the middle of nowhere,” Hartley says.
“It was about a three-hour drive from Melbourne. I dated him for a whole season [Parry] and some of my comrades. It was a good laugh. There was no pressure. These were just guys coming to Australia for the first time. There were about eight of us. We all lived above the pub! Can you imagine! We went fishing every day and had a lot of fun.”
The following summer Hartley broke into the Lancashire second eleven, followed by another winter in Australia, this time playing club cricket in Wollongong, New South Wales. “I have taken a big step forward in my cricket in these two years,” he says. “I just kept going from there.”
Having made his debut for England in a series that didn’t feature anyone in the World Cup, the upcoming ODIs in the Caribbean – and the chance to play under Lancashire captain and Manchester Originals teammate Buttler – are a big opportunity.
“I can’t wait,” Hartley says. “Luckily I got to play with Jos for a while. We get along well. It’s nice to count yourself among such big players. It’s great to get recognition for this team and my job now is to hopefully make them a first team player.”
As for Everton, who are in the Premier League relegation zone after receiving a 10-point Financial Fair Play penalty, Hartley admits: “I’m a big Everton fan and these are difficult times.” , I often went with my father. Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Tim Cahill. I saw her week after week. I hope there are three teams worse than us. [this season]”
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.