Growing up, Tom Hartley idolised Everton footballers Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka. But after being introduced to cricket relatively late, honing his skills while living above a pub in rural Australia, he could be an England regular by the end of the winter.
Aged 24 and having only made his Lancashire debut three years ago, the left-arm spinner made his England debut in an ODI against Ireland at Trent Bridge in September, returning respectable figures of nought for 48 in his 10 overs.
Now, with a revamped ODI squad in Antigua ahead of the start of a three-match series on Sunday, Hartley has the opportunity to establish himself in England’s 50-over set-up following the team’s car crash World Cup defence in India.
With just six survivors from that campaign, he is among a number of new faces who have a chance to show what they can do in the Caribbean.
After being handed his ODI cap by Andrew Flintoff before his debut, Hartley was told by England’s 2005 Ashes hero: “This will be a day you’ll remember for the rest of your life. When you get this cap, it changes your life – it enables you to walk tall.”
At 6ft 4in, an unusual frame for a spinner, Hartley doesn’t need any help walking tall. Yet spending time with Flintoff at the start of his international career has been a bonus.
Flintoff was brought into England’s coaching set-up at the end of last summer having recovered from the horrific, life-threatening car crash while filming Top Gear in December 2022.
He will be with the team in the Caribbean over the next few weeks and was also recently in Abu Dhabi for an England Lions red-ball training camp Hartley was part of.
“He’s been class,” Hartley says of Flintoff. “I feel a bit more connected with him since he gave me that ODI cap. He’s been really good to learn off.”
As well as being mentored by former England spinner Graeme Swann in Abu Dhabi, Hartley was also given the opportunity to bowl in front of Test coach Brendon McCullum ahead of England’s tour of India early next year.
“It was the first time I met him,” Hartley says. “There was a bit of nerves bowling in front of him but hopefully I can just impress him enough to hopefully get myself on a tour next year.”
Being part of that five-Test series in India would be remarkable for a player with just 20 first-class appearances and who has had most of his success in white-ball cricket.
But England are keen to replicate the success of Axar Patel, the left-arm spinner who ran riot against them in the last series between the teams in India in 2021, and Hartley’s skillset, with his height, left-arm angle and ability to bowl relatively quickly for a spinner, means he could be just the type of player McCullum might take a punt on for that tour.
It’s a challenge Hartley would certainly be up for. “Anyone would be up for it,” he says. “That’s what I’m going to aim for. Indian conditions are so different to anywhere else in the world you’ve really got to look at these lads, especially Axar who did so well in that series. They will probably look to emulate the same conditions in the series coming up so I think it’s a good place to start to see what they do well and see if you can do similar.”
Hartley isn’t the only athlete in the family, with dad Bill a 400metre runner who won relay gold at the 1974 European Championships and silver at the Commonwealth Games the same year.
Yet Hartley did not have a straightforward path into the professional ranks. Having started playing cricket from around the age of 10 at Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby, Liverpool, he represented Lancashire at age-group level but did not earn a contract after leaving school.
It was only a few years later after a winter playing club cricket in Australia in 2017-18 that he gained the attention of Lancashire while taking a stack of wickets for Ormskirk in the Liverpool and District Competition. A first professional deal followed in 2019.
That first winter Down Under, playing in Sale, Victoria, after being invited out by former Lancashire spinner Stephen Parry proved a turning point. “It was in the middle of nowhere really,” Hartley says.
“It was about three hours from Melbourne. I went out for a season with him [Parry] and a few of my mates. It was a good laugh. There was no pressure. It was just lads going out, first time in Australia. There was about eight of us. We all lived above a pub! You can imagine! We were netting every day and just loved it.”
Hartley broke into Lancashire’s second XI the following summer and another winter in Australia, this time playing club cricket in Wollongong, New South Wales, followed. “In them two years I had a great leap forward in my cricket,” he says. “I’ve just gone from there really.”
After making his England debut in a series that did not include any of the World Cup squad, the upcoming ODIs in the Caribbean – and the chance to play under the captaincy of Lancashire and Manchester Originals team-mate Buttler – are a big opportunity.
“I can’t wait,” says Hartley. “Thankfully I’ve been able to play with Jos a fair bit. We get on pretty well. It’s nice to put yourself among these big players. To get the nod for this team is great and my job now is to hopefully make myself a regular.”
As for Everton, in the Premier League relegation zone after receiving a 10-point financial fair play penalty, Hartley admits: “I’m a big Everton fan, which is a tough time at the minute. I used to go with my dad when I was younger. Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Tim Cahill. I watched them week-in week-out. Hopefully there’s three worse teams than us [this season].”