Hartley relishing India rematch after thrilling first taste of Bazball
Hyderabad, India - Few players can have experienced as many of Test cricket’s highs and lows as Tom Hartley did on debut across the four days of the first Test at Hyderabad.
Hartley’s first delivery in Test cricket was carted by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal over long-on for six. His 308th and most recent spun past an on-rushing Mohammed Siraj for a ninth wicket in the match. That rounded off his epic second-innings figures of 7 for 62, the first seven-for by an England debutant spinner since Jim Laker in 1948, and sealed a famous England win by 28 runs.
“He’s not the first, and he won’t be the last!” Hartley joked, as he recalled the manner in which Jaiswal had dispatched his maiden delivery.
“As a spinner, people are going to come after you,” he added. “I’m fine with it if people want to come after me. I sort of have to go into a different mindset. You look back at the ball and you think it wasn’t a bad ball. If that’s the way they want to play, you’ve just got to play with it.”
It is a refreshingly phlegmatic take, no doubt helped by the fact that that chastening first ball, first day and first innings of 2 for 131 are now academic. But it is also a hardwired perspective the 24-year-old has forged from white-ball cricket.
Still a relative newbie in the first-class game - this was his 21st appearance - Hartley has 82 T20 matches under his belt. All have come for either Lancashire or Manchester Originals.
His job, like most slow bowlers in the shorter formats, is to be defensive, which does not
I’m fine with it if people want to come after me. I sort of have to go into a different mind-set TOM HARTLEY
lend itself to an effective attacking role with the red ball. But it also does involve bowling up top, where the best, most destructive batters reside.
Though opening in this Test was a red-ball novelty, he had done it many times before in limited-overs formats, most notably sending down the first ball of the inaugural men’s Hundred back in 2021.