Tom Hartley accepts England have taken a “bit of a punt” in selecting him for a daunting trip to India but the slow left-armer believes he has the tools to thrive.
England’s focus was not on Hartley’s 19 wickets at a modest 44.84 apiece in last year’s LV= Insurance County Championship when they named him in their squad for the upcoming five-match Test series.
Instead, they are banking on Hartley harnessing India’s spinning surfaces in a manner comparable to Ravindra Jadeja and especially Axar Patel, who was England’s nemesis on their last Test tour in 2021.
Hartley’s only previous excursion to India was with Lancashire four years ago although an England Lions training camp in Abu Dhabi a couple of months ago has given him some confidence for the weeks ahead.
“With the conditions being completely different to English conditions, they’ve really analysed what has done well in India and what will do well,” the 24-year-old told the PA news agency.
“It’s nice to see people recognise that I might be the bowler to go out in India and do well. When people have confidence in you like that, it’s fantastic.
“I just feel all that confidence has been passed on to me and I can’t wait to go out there. My stats might not be the best in championship cricket but I bowl very similar to Axar and Jadeja.
“They’re taking a bit of a punt but I feel like I’ve proved myself in the training camps that I’ve been on and I deserve to get a go.”
Hartley suspects he will have a supplementary role if he is given the nod for a series which begins in Hyderabad on January 25, with only Jack Leach among England’s four main spinners capped more than once.
But Hartley, whose international career has comprised of just two ODI appearances against Ireland last year, has given plenty of consideration on how he intends to bowl to the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“Although I haven’t played much cricket out there, I’m going with a feeling of what I need to bowl,” he said. “I see a lot of similarities between my white-ball bowling here and red-ball bowling out there.
“I feel like the pace, the revs you want to put on it and the shape of the ball will be very similar to white-ball areas – you just want to bowl that little bit fuller.
“As much as Indian’s batters are good players of spin, the conditions should be in my favour. You’ve just got to try not to over-complicate things and keep things simple and keep the stumps in play.
“India’s spinners are great but can we perform as well as them? There will be a lot of fight in us. I won’t be playing as a frontline spinner, so there won’t be tons of pressure on me.”
Hartley, who could also extract extra bounce from a 6ft 4in frame, has been taking on board advice from Graeme Swann, revealing the former England spinner’s straightforward approach is a breath of fresh air.
As for whether he has a similar outgoing demeanour as a spinner who took 255 wickets in 60 Tests and is now a consultant bowling coach, Hartley prefers to keep his cool but is not frightened to speak up.
“Once I’m in a battle or someone’s p*****g me off a bit, I’m not afraid to say what I want to say,” Hartley added, ahead of linking up with England on Thursday for a 11-day training camp in Abu Dhabi.
“That really has to be in the moment sort of feel but I’ve done a bit of both and found that just staying as relaxed as possible and having as little emotion as possible works for me.”
Samson stars as India claim clean sweep over Bangladesh in T20I series
Sanju Samson's stunning maiden century set India on their way to a 133-run victory over Bangladesh on Saturday.
Bangladesh had no answers in the chase and fell short as India secured a clean sweep in their three-match T20I series with a comfortable win.
India could not have got off to a better start despite Abhishek Sharma's dismissal for four, as Samson stormed to his century, plundering 111 from just 47 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav (75), Riyan Parag (34) and Hardik Pandya (47) pushed them further towards their total, even as Tanzim Hasan Sakib (3-66) tried to slow them down.
The hosts finished on 297-6, and Bangladesh's hopes of a quick start in their own innings were cut short as Parvez Hossain Emon was caught on the first ball.
Ravi Bishnoi (3-30) and Mayank Yadav (2-32) impressed in the field for India, stunting Bangladesh from building any momentum even as Towhid Hridoy kept them ticking forward with his unbeaten 63.
However, Liton Das (42) was the only other player to score higher than 15 and the tourists slumped over the finish line knowing they would get nowhere near India's total.
Data Debrief: Quick off the mark
With his maiden century in men's T20Is, Samson became the seventh India batter to score a ton as an opener. In fact, his strike rate of 236.2 is second only to Rohit Sharma (274.4 v Sri Lanka) among India batters when scoring a ton in the format.
Samson brought up his century in just 40 deliveries, making him the fourth fastest to do so in men's T20Is among batters from full-member sides and the second fastest among India's batters after Rohit (35 balls v Sri Lanka in December 2017).
He hit 11 fours and eight sixes in his knock, leaving Bangladesh with a mountain to climb from the very beginning.
Saka and Jones withdraw from England's Nations League squad
England have confirmed that Arsenal's Bukayo Saka and Liverpool's Curtis Jones have withdrawn from the squad ahead of their Nations League clash with Finland on Sunday.
Saka was replaced by Noni Madueke in the 51st minute during England's shock 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley on Thursday after picking up an injury in his right leg.
It only adds to Mikel Arteta's injury worries ahead of facing Bournemouth next Saturday after Martin Odegaard was injured on international duty for Norway last month.
Saka has enjoyed a fine start to the Premier League campaign, scoring two goals and laying on a further seven assists in the Gunners' opening seven games.
The England international has also created more chances (27) than any other player in the division, with his nine goal involvements a total only bettered by Chelsea's Cole Palmer (11) and Manchester City's Erling Haaland (10).
Lee Carsley will also be without uncapped Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones, who was added to the Three Lions squad earlier this week, but has since withdrawn due to a personal commitment.
Jones earned his first call-up in May as part of Gareth Southgate's provisional 33-man squad for Euro 2024, but did not make the final cut.
The 23-year-old was part of the Young Lions side that won the 2023 European Under-21 Championship under Carsley, scoring the only goal in their 1-0 win over Spain in the final.
Brook has everything to become England's 'best ever', says Anderson
Harry Brook has all the attributes needed to become England's best ever batter after his sensational knock against Pakistan, so says James Anderson.
Brook became the first England batter in 34 years to score a triple-century when his side thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in their first Test of the three-match series.
In the same Test, Root scored 262, and in doing so he passed Alastair Cook's previous England best of 12,472 career runs, placing him fifth on the all-time list.
Brook's career-best knock of 317 took him to 1,875 runs in 19 Tests and 31 innings ahead of the second encounter in Multan that starts on Monday.
The 25-year-old has a chance to become the fastest Englishman to 2,000 Test runs, beating the 22 matches and 33 innings of Herbert Sutcliffe in 1928.
And Anderson, who is England's all-time leading wicket taker in Test matches, showered praise on Brook, likening him to Kevin Pietersen.
"He's on the way to being in the top three that I've played with," Anderson said on his Tailenders podcast.
"It's Root, Pietersen and him. He's definitely got all the attributes to overtake them.
"He's just got everything. Without trying to big him up too much because he's still really early in his Test career.
"I do think that he's got the perfect amount of each of those two and that's what will make him the best that we've ever had."
Pietersen scored 8,181 runs when his 104-Test career ended in 2014, 170 fewer than Brook has managed after 19 Tests as a comparison.
England's stunning 823-7 declared was their highest total in Test cricket since 1938 as they took a 1-0 series lead against Pakistan on Friday.
The 556 England conceded in Pakistan’s first innings was the highest total any team had overturned to then go on and earn an innings victory.
Brook and Root shared a partnership of 454, England’s highest of all time for any wicket and the fourth-highest by any Test pair.
"The thing that's really similar between Joe and Harry is that they love batting," said Anderson. "They literally couldn't care less what format it is. They just want to bat.
"They want to have fun doing it. As much as Harry's the younger player and will be learning loads from Rooty, I still think Rooty learns from him as well.
"Joe's one of those sorts of players that wants to keep developing and bettering himself, and he does watch other players and try to add bits to his game.
"I'm sure he's doing that with Harry."
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