Hyderabad, Jan 28 (PTI) Left-arm spinner Tom Hartley said Sunday the strip used for the first Test against India didn’t offer much to the tweakers and he had to “keep a cool head” to make his debut memorable with a seven-wicket haul in a famous England victory.
Hartley’s 7/62 fashioned England’s memorable 28-run win on the fourth day of the Test here.
India’s chase of 231 went horribly south once Hartley spun into the home team top-order, igniting a rot that saw them getting bowled out for 202 in the final over of the day.
“It’s unbelievable, will not sink in for a while to be honest. I don’t think there was a lot of help, I had to keep a cool head,” Hartley told the broadcaster after the win.
“It was a tough one (on the first innings bowling effort), it didn’t spin as much as I thought, and I had a chat with Stokes, McCullum and the team management.”
He said said Ben Stokes had asked him to bowl into the surface.
“The dressing room has great vibes, it’s a fantastic dressing room, one of the best. It’s just the Stokes way, just bowl into the surface and we came out on top today.”
Hartley’s effort is the best figures for an England spinner on Test debut in the post-war era and nine wickets by him in a match is the joint-most since Robert Berry’s 9/116 against West Indies in Manchester in 1950.
“Getting a few runs always helps (on his second innings batting effort), it also helped me get to know about the pitch a lot more. Just unbelievable to be honest.
I didn’t have to bowl as fast as I thought (in the first innings), watching Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) and (Ravindra) Jadeja, we knew we could take some time – change the length and the trajectory when we bowled for the second time,” Hartley said.
