Two months ago I was working at a garden centre making hanging baskets… now I’m England’s new cricketing hero

10 months ago 55

ENGLAND sensation Tom Hartley has gone from working in a garden centre to inspiring his country to an all-time classic win in India within the space of two months.

The Lancashire-born spinner, 24, made his Test debut in Hyderabad last week and produced a startling performance.

Hartley was working in a garden centre just two months ago[/caption]

It has been a meteoric rise for the spin bowler[/caption]

Hartley’s life has changed in a matter of weeks[/caption]

He took two wickets for a rather expensive 131 runs in the first innings and becoming only the second English bwoler to be hit for six on his first ball. But it was during India‘s second innings where he really stepped up to the plate.

Hartley, who began playing cricket aged ten, conjured up one of the great England bowling displays on away soil, finishing with figures of 7-62 as Ben Stokes‘ side claimed an unlikely 28-run victory on Sunday.

And the left-hander’s achievement is made all the more impressive when you consider how humble his life was just a couple of months ago.

Hartley, who made his England debut last year, filled in at the garden centre for one week back in November – which is run by his dad, Bill.

It makes him the sixth generation of his family to work at Hartley’s Nurseries, a horticultural business in Lydiate in Merseyside.

Dad Bill revealed to The Telegraph that his son helped “produce bedding plants, hanging baskets, plants for sale on the nursery,” while he would also “help with watering, whatever needed doing”.

Hartley Sr also has an impressive sporting CV. He was a 400-metre European champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist.

And the England cricketer’s dad believes there is a correlation between horticultural work and being a spin bowler at the highest level.

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He said: “Tom could see the problem-solving you need on a daily basis: attention to detail, good habits.

“If you want to produce a good pack of bedding plants, everything has to be in the right sequence at the right time.

“And it’s no different than preparing for any kind of sport really.

“Our job’s about problem-solving, isn’t it? Well, that’s what his job is about.

“Because you get problems every day when you don’t work, something doesn’t work or this isn’t going right or whatever. You’ve got to find a way.”

Hartley, whose childhood heroes were Everton stars Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka, will now be hoping to build on his fine start to international Test cricket in the rest of the series.

The second Test gets underway in Visakhapatnam on Friday.