Tom Hartley was England’s leading wicket-taker during the recent Test tour of India, but the left-armed spinner might struggle to crack into Lancashire’s County Championship side this season.
Last year, Lancashire secured the services of Australian spinner Nathan Lyon for the 2024 summer, with the 36-year-old expected to feature in this week’s season opener against reigning champions Surrey.
However, it’s incredibly unlikely for a County Championship side to pick two finger spinners in the early stages of the season, meaning Hartley might be tasked with carrying drinks during Lyon’s visit, curbing his development as a red-ball cricketer.
“Even if Tommy had to miss out, I think the reality of the situation is it’s April and we’re in the UK,” Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings told the Wisden podcast last week.
“You’ve got arguably the best off-spinner the game has seen, Tommy is going to learn a huge amount from that guy.
“Tommy is going to play a huge part in Lancashire’s cricketing history. You see the quality he’s produced on that Test match debut.
“It puts myself and (Lancashire coach Dale Benkenstein) in a really tough situation for next week. When we made the signing last year, you can’t foresee what’s going to happen in six months’ time.”
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Earlier this year, England Test coach Brendon McCullum declared that would be “slightly mad” if Hartley and fellow spinner Shoaib Bashir weren’t given opportunities in the County Championship after their impressive outings in India.
However, Cricket Australia recently decided to slash Lyon’s availability for Lancashire this year, allowing him to play only seven of the county’s first nine County Championship matches before heading home in July. The New South Welshman, who has signalled his intent to play in the 2027 Ashes, also won’t play any white-ball matches, with CA managing his workloads ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign against India.
Subsequently, Hartley should be Lancashire’s first-choice spinner for at least half of Lancashire’s County Championship matches.
“Playing alongside (Lyon) would be fantastic,” Hartley told reporters last month.
“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.
“Playing this series (against India) 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.”
Hartley claimed 22 wickets at 36.13 during the five-Test campaign against India, taking 7-62 on debut in Hyderabad to help England secure its lone victory of the tour.
Lyon, who was “absolutely glued” to the series, was immensely impressed with what England’s three young spinners produced throughout the tour, suggesting that Bashir has the potential to cause some headaches during the 2025/26 Ashes.
“They had a pretty hard introduction into Test cricket. That’s one hell of a way to start your Test career, come over and bowl to Rohit (Sharma) and (Shubman) Gill and everyone else,” Lyon recently told Willow Talk Podcast.
“But I’m looking forward to getting over to Lancashire and meeting Tom and bowling with him.
“It’s going to be interesting to see the mindset, his reflections. I’m looking forward to hopefully playing a bit with him over there as well which will be good.”
Lancashire will face Surrey at Manchester’s Old Trafford from Friday, with the first ball scheduled for 9pm AEDT.
Australians in the 2024 County Championship
Durham — Scott Boland
Essex — Daniel Sams
Glamorgan — Marnus Labuschagne
Gloucestershire — Beau Webster, Cameron Bancroft
Hampshire — Michael Neser, Ben McDermott
Kent — Wes Agar, Xavier Bartlett
Lancashire — Nathan Lyon
Leicestershire — Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb
Northamptonshire — Chris Tremain
Somerset — Matthew Renshaw
Sussex — Dan Hughes, Nathan McAndrew