Tom Hartley has been a breakout success for England this winter with the ball but the slow left-armer intends to focus on his batting to avoid being frozen out at Lancashire.
Despite just 20 first-class appearances behind him and a modest record, Hartley fully vindicated his left-field selection for the tour of India by spinning England to a famous win in Hyderabad, while he tops the wicket-taking charts with 20 dismissals at an average of 33.45 after four Tests.
Hartley is gaining increasingly in confidence but he could be marginalised in the County Championship after Lancashire pulled off a coup by snapping up Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon for the summer.
Rather than fret about his place, Hartley sees the upshot of the Red Rose signing a bowler with 527 Test wickets and will take steps to try to prevent the pair from being in direct competition with each other.
“I’m really trying to work on my batting and become more of that all-rounder role which makes me a lot easier to pick,” Hartley said. “Playing alongside (Lyon) would be fantastic.
“I hope he’s going to be fantastic for me and be a real game-changer. He’s going to be great to learn off. He’s probably going to be fed up of me by September. Hopefully we can get on really well.
“The type of bowler he is is something I’m trying to work on. The way he operates in Australia on pretty flat wickets, there are times when English wickets are pretty similar.”
England head coach Brendon McCullum said last week it would be “slightly mad” if Hartley and Shoaib Bashir were overlooked by their counties having established themselves as Test cricketers on this trip.
While Hartley could be behind Lyon in the pecking order and Bashir set to play second fiddle to Jack Leach at Somerset, one solution would be to send the pair on loan to other counties.
“I think it’s a bit early for that,” Hartley said. “I’ll do whatever’s best for Lancashire and the team.”
Hartley will instead concentrate on pumping up a respectable first-class batting average of 26.19. He has demonstrated his character in recent weeks by taking the attack to Ravichandran Ashwin, thumping India’s premier spinner for four sixes in the series.
While there may still be more to work on before he can consider himself a fully-fledged all-rounder, Hartley is determined to show he can bring value with both bat and ball.
“I’ve made big strides in these last two years with my batting but I still feel there are gaps there and that (improving) only really comes with time at the crease,” Hartley said.
“I think I get a bit carried away trying to hit sixes and fours. Sometimes I’ve just got to relax myself, take my time to get in and just have a bit more patience.”
His adventurous approach to batting has been encouraged by McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, with Hartley bumped up to eighth in Ranchi after three Tests at number nine in the order.
“They’re over the moon whenever I hit a six, that’s what I get cheered for,” Hartley said. “Coming back in the dressing room, that’s what they talk to me about. It just encourages me to play more of them.”
India are 3-1 up in the series heading into the final Test in Dharamsala, starting on Thursday and cooler conditions in the area could lead to England choosing an extra seamer and potentially discarding either Hartley or off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.
Irrespective of whether he features this week, Hartley believes all avenues are now open to him after previously drifting towards limited-overs opportunities before England came calling.
“The way it was going, I was naturally trailing down that white-ball route,” Hartley added. “But that’s just because there was more opportunities for me that way.
“Playing this series has really opened my eyes and made me believe that I can be a pretty good red-ball bowler. I’ve got a lot more confidence now.
“There will be extra incentive for me to play this summer and really try and do well for Lancs.”
Dottin among nominees for ICC Women’s Player of the Month for October
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin has been named among the three nominees for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month award for the month of October.
Dottin made her comeback for the national side at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, and was a driving force as the islanders reached their first semi-final at the event since 2018.
She was instrumental in victories over Scotland and Bangladesh, but saved her most valuable contributions for the latter stages, where she shone with the bat, ball and in the field in their group stage win over England, before producing a memorable individual display with 33 runs and four wickets in the thrilling semi-final defeat to eventual champions New Zealand.
Dottin will be going up against New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr and South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt for the award.
The nominees for the Men’s award are New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner, Pakistan’s Noman Ali and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Kevin Sinclair replaced by Junior Sinclair in Harpy Eagles Super50 squad after internal report to GCB
All-rounder Kevin Sinclair will take no further part in the Guyana Harpy Eagles CG United Super50 Cup campaign in Trinidad and Tobago. The decision made by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) followed the submission of an internal report by the Harpy Eagles' management team that it was necessary to replace the player.
The GCB, in making the revelation, also announced that Kevin Sinclair will be replaced by Junior Sinclair in the squad at the tournament.
Though the GCB’s statement did not clarify if sub-standard performance is the reason behind Kevin Sinclair’s ejection from the squad, it pointed out that it was a “necessary squad adjustment.”
“Following an internal report from the Guyana Harpy Eagles management, it has been decided that Kevin Sinclair will no longer be participating in this year’s competition,” the statement read.
In the three matches played in the Super50 Cup, Kevin Sinclair tallied 14 runs and snared three wickets.
He made 14 from 16 balls against Windward Volcanoes and took 2-66 from 10 overs in the same match.
However, he did not bat in the rained-out contest against Combined Campuses and Colleges Marooners and was dismissed without a score against Barbados Pride and only took 1-26 from 10 overs in that same match.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles are winless after three matches.
A similar situation arose last year during the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament when organisers announced Kevin left the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad for “personal reasons.”
Kevin Sinclair’s departure opens the door for Junior Sinclair to take up a spot in the Harpy Eagles squad ahead of Tuesday’s contest against Leeward Islands Hurricanes at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.
Guyana Harpy Eagles Squad: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Matthew Nandu, Tevin Imlach (captain), Kevlon Anderson, Kemol Savory, Junior Sinclair, Keemo Paul (vice-captain), Ronaldo Aimohamed, Veerasammy Permaul, Isai Thorne, Ashmead Nedd, Nial Smith, Sylus Tyndall, Rampertab Ramnauth.
Salt confirmed as England wicketkeeper despite Buttler return for West Indies T20Is
Phil Salt will be wicketkeeper in England’s upcoming T20I series against West Indies as white-ball captain Jos Buttler looks to improve his captaincy.
Buttler has been ruled out with a calf strain but will return to England's squad for the five-match T20I series that begins on Saturday.
Until now, Salt has kept in just 13 of his 59 England appearances across all formats but has taken up the mantle for the ongoing ODI series against West Indies.
Buttler, on the other hand, has donned the gloves in 106 of his 108 T20Is.
Salt, though, is enjoying his new role.
"It's not something I've done a lot for England recently, but I enjoy keeping. I feel like that's where I offer most to the side," Salt said, as reported by ESPN.
"We've not had a chat about anything going forward. I'm just glad to be doing it at the moment."
While Salt is not guaranteed the gloves after this series, he will find comfort in Buttler's intent to optimise his captaincy by experimenting with a role in the field.
"I was going to give up the gloves and commit to being at mid-off and see how that felt. If it will help me with my captaincy it is something I am open to," Buttler told Sky Sports in September after being ruled out of the T20 series against Australia.
England are tied 1-1 in their ODI series against the West Indies with the decider to be played on Wednesday.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
