Daily Times

Tom Hartley’s headline role in England’s famous victory in India has left members of his hometown club “basking in the reflected glory” of a rags-to-riches Test debut.

After Hartley’s second-innings seven for 62 sealed a famous 28-run win in Hyderabad on Sunday, Ormskirk CC offered a free drink to their patrons as they celebrated one of their own’s remarkable success.

Hartley progressed through the juniors at Ormskirk, a market town in Lancashire 13 miles north of Liverpool, and was even playing the odd game for them up until a couple of years ago. He still has close ties to the club as his father’s flower business supplies their hanging baskets, so it is little wonder there was unconfined joy at Hartley’s accomplishments on the subcontinent.

“It’s a massive, massive achievement for him,” club chair Bill Rankin told the PA news agency. “We’re all basking in the reflected glory, just to have been part of his cricket career.

“We’d have been watching it anyway as cricket fans and that was a fantastic result but to have a fantastic result where you know someone who’s been a significant part of that, it adds a new element.

“It was a great game, full stop, but it was an even greater game when you know someone who was making it happen. It’s like a dream what happened to him on Sunday.