Throwback: When Tom Hartley bowled the tense last over of a dramatic draw between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire
Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who is currently in India as part of England’s Test squad for a five-match series, was in the thick of the action during a County Championship Division One game in May last year. Representing Lancashire, he bowled the last over of a match against Nottinghamshire in Nottingham. Lancashire needed two wickets to win, but Nottinghamshire held them to a gritty draw.
The 2024 County season will begin on April 5 and will go on till September 29. In the build-up to the championship, the X handle of the sporting event has been sharing some interesting throwback videos. Recently, they uploaded a clip of Hartley bowling the last over in the game between Nottinghamshire and Lancashire.
Set a target of 295, Nottinghamshire crumbled to 55/6. However, Joe Clarke (42 off 88) and Brett Hutton (23 off 141) offered stubborn resistance. In the end, it all came down to Hartley, who needed to take two wickets to lift Lancashire to a famous win.
With the second ball of the over, the left-arm spinner trapped Luke Fletcher lbw for 1 off 14 balls. Olly Stone (0*), however, survived five deliveries (no-ball included) to ensure Nottinghamshire drew the game. They finished at 138/9 as James Anderson (3/35) and George Balderson (3/21) could not bowl Lancashire to victory despite their impressive bowling efforts.
Tom Hartley overcame a poor start to turn his Test debut into a memorable one
Hartley, 24, made his Test debut against India in Hyderabad in the first match of the series. He struggled in the first innings and registered figures of 2/131 from 25 overs. Although he did pick up the wickets of key Indian batters Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, the debutant did not look very threatening.
Hartley, however, came up with a terrific performance in the second innings to bowl England to a famous win. The left-arm spinner claimed 7/62 in 26.2 overs to stun India. The hosts were bowled out for 202, chasing a target of 231. Hartley’s victims included openers Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Gill and all-rounder Axar Patel.
In the second Test in Visakhapatnam, which England lost by 106 runs, the spinner picked up one wicket in the first innings and four in the second. He also contributed 21 and 36 with the bat to go with his scores of 23 and 34 in Hyderabad.