by “I feel like Tom’s time making hanging baskets is over,” says Bill Hartley, with pride.
In November, Bill’s son, Tom, joined for a week at the family’s flower and plant business; Tom usually works in production. On Sunday, Tom did something even better: 7-62 in the first Test match to lead England to victory in Hyderabad.
Tom is the sixth generation of the family to work for Hartley’s Nurseries, the horticultural business in Lydiate, a village in Merseyside. It was founded in 1890.
Growing up, Tom was enlisted to produce “bed plants, hanging baskets, plants to sell at the nursery,” Bill recalls. “He would help with the water, whatever needed to be done.”
If the family business was one foundation of Tom’s childhood, the other was sport. In 1974, Bill won a gold medal at the European Championships in Rome in the 400m relay; he also won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games the same year. His wife Ann-Louise, Tom’s mother, rode horses competitively. Annabelle, Tom’s older sister, swam competitively throughout school and university.
“I wanted to give him a platform where he could really go forward in the best way possible,” says Bill. “He played a lot of different sports, he played rugby, he played soccer.”
Working with plants, “Tom could see the problem solving you need on a daily basis: attention to detail, good habits,” recalls Bill. “If you want to produce a good pack of bedding plants, everything has to be in the right order at the right time. And it’s no different than preparing for any kind of sport really.
“Our job is to solve problems, isn’t it? Well, that’s what his job is all about. Because you get problems every day when you’re not working, something doesn’t work or this isn’t going right or whatever. You have to find a way.”
However, for all his sporting genes and drive to be active – although Bill never pressured his son to follow him into athletics – Tom slowly took to cricket.
Tom’s early sporting heroes were Everton’s Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines. Tom was only 10 years old when he started playing cricket after being encouraged to play at Merchant Taylors School in Crosby.
“He came home from school he said they gave us a bat and a ball and some stumps – ‘can I get a bat dad?’ That’s it.”
Tom was no prodigy. “He was a late developer, he was one of these kids who was pretty weak when he was maybe 13, 14.”
‘He learned a work ethic from the business’
More than his skills, to Bill it was Tom’s attitude that stood out. Indeed, for all his own sporting achievements, Bill envies his son’s poise.
“I wish I was more like him. He doesn’t get upset. He has a good attitude when it comes to pressure situations.
“He’s a good kid, and he’s worked really hard. And he is always trying to improve. Work ethic is probably the biggest thing he’s learned from the business and watching what’s going on here.
“Especially the spinners, you don’t always have great days and things don’t go your way. But he would come back and analyze what he has done and watch film. That kind of approach really helped him.”
England’s new song? ‘I want to dance with Tom Hartley’
Tom’s cricket progressed as he grew rapidly, from 15 to 19 and got stronger. When cricket came to overtake football Hartley threw himself into his local club, Ormskirk, which is three miles from the family home.
“I couldn’t recommend them highly enough,” says Bill. “They gave him responsibility at a young age. By the time he was 13, 14 he was playing second team cricket – men’s cricket really. And they gave him opportunities in a bit of a similar way to how Ben Stokes did.”
At the age of 18, Tom was offered a university place to study marketing, hoping to join the family business. Before starting his degree, Tom did a gap year in Australia, playing club cricket in Melbourne. When he returned, Tom said: “Father, I want to give you a crack.”
In 2019, just before turning 20, Tom signed a summer contract with Lancashire. The following year he broke into the club’s first-class and T20 teams, but continued to play as long as he could for Ormskirk; in 2022, he managed five Premier League games for Liverpool.
Tom has close friends at the club and continues to visit when he can. In the hours after his seven-wicket haul for England, Ormskirk offered all members a free drink to celebrate. The sight of his club mates singing “I wanna dance with somebody” to Whitney Houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody” begged his respect here.
‘After two balls I knew he would have a better day … but I didn’t know how well’
Bill did not celebrate the club; he was exhausted by 4am alarm calls over the four days of the Hyderabad Test, fueled by herbal tea.
“I was hopeless at work, I did nothing. The four days are just a blur. I’m actually walking around in a daze. You are bowling every ball to him but there is nothing you can do.”
For Bill it is a very different tension from being involved in elite sport himself.
“I was really nervous. And then when the gun goes, you just forget all. Then when you race, especially with something like 400 meters you gave everything. When you survive your race, you have that satisfaction of giving it your all. But when you’re looking at someone else it’s not like that, there’s no release.”
As Hartley bowled on his first day as a Test cricketer, there seemed to be no let-up either. His first ball was hit for a six; he conceded 63 in nine balls.
“You feel for him – but you can’t do anything. And he is the only one who can turn it around. You just have to believe that he has the tools to get to the other side.”
Bill sent a message to his son after the start of the call. Despite the turnip day, Bill believed that Tom would stand by what had underpinned his entire cricket journey: his spirit.
“It is very strong, on a very even keel; it doesn’t get too high it doesn’t get too low. He is thoughtful, he thinks a lot about things. I think that’s why he ended up being able to get around what happened to him the first day. He analyzed what he had done and figured out a way to use the pitch to better effect by changing some things in the second innings.” Bill noticed how Tom slowed his pace back through India.
“When I watched the first two balls and saw the changes he had made in his run and the way the ball was falling, I was sure he was going to have a much better day. But I had no idea he would have the kind of day he had.”
Now, it’s not just Tom who has to adjust to his new position; as his father does. “It’s not worth preparing your son for what happened – the parents don’t think to prepare either.”
