Batting at No.10, left-arm spinner Tom Hartley scored his maiden first-class century in the County Championship on Wednesday (July 23).
Tom Hartley scores maiden first-class ton against Gloucestershire
Lancashire and Gloucestershire faced off at Cheltenham on July 22, in the latest round of the County Championship. James Anderson won the toss and chose to bat first, and the first day ended largely honours even as Lancashire reached 290-6 thanks to Matty Hurst’s century.
But on Wednesday (July 23), Hurst was dismissed after adding one run to his overnight total, and Jack Blatherwick departed soon after for one. At 302-8, Tom Hartley walked in to join Australian off-spinner Chris Green. The pair put on 212 for the ninth wicket, before Green departed for a massive 160.
Hartley soon brought up his own century, his first in first-class cricket, and managed to land a few more blows in the company of Anderson, to finish with 130 – the ninth-highest first-class score from No.10 or below, and the highest in 11 years. In fact, it was only the second time since 1953 that a player batting this low had scored as many as Hartley.
Since starring in a famous Test win for England over India at Hyderabad last year, Hartley has played only four Tests; the remainder of that tour. Shoaib Bashir has been the first-choice spinner, with Liam Dawson seemingly next in the pecking order, as evidenced by his Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy call-up in the wake of Bashir’s finger injury.
Read more: New Zealand legend notches century on County Championship debut for new club
Highest first-class scores batting at No.10 or below, full list Score Position Name Match Venue Year 165 No.10 John Chapman Derbyshire v Warwickshire Blackwell 1910 163 No.11 Thomas Smith Essex v Derbyshire Chesterfield 1947 152 No.10 Jasubhai Patel Gujarat v Holkar Indore 1951 143 No.10 Edward Forssberg New South Wales v Queensland Sydney 1921 142* No.10 Ian Leggat Central Districts v Otago Dunedin 1953 136 No.10 Jyotish Mitter Bengal v Bihar Jamshedpur 1951 132* No.10 Luke Jongwe Southern Rocks v Mountaineers Masvingo 2014 131* No.10 L Amar Singh Indians v Lancashire Liverpool 1932 130 No.10 Tom Hartley Lancashire v Gloucestershire Cheltenham 2025 129 No.10 William Oldfield New South Wales v Victoria Melbourne 1925
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