Hail the young hero! Tom Hartley, 24, inspires all-time great win for England on his Test debut

Tom Hartley took seven wickets in India's second innings to inspire comebackHartley's father won gold at the 1974 European Athletics Championships    Read More: Punters lose thousands in betting on India to smash England 

His father won gold for Great Britain in the 1974 European Athletics Championships.

And yesterday Tom Hartley wrote himself into sporting history too with a cricket ball in his hand as part of an extraordinary zero-to-hero turnaround.

Making his Test debut for England against India in the Hyderabad heat, the 6ft 4in spin bowler’s first ball on Thursday was smashed for six. It might have put paid to a lesser competitor’s hopes of glory.

But fuelled no doubt by the years of encouragement from his medal-winning father Bill, and stirring words of support from Ashes hero and fellow Lancastrian Andrew Flintoff, he hit back yesterday.

Taking seven wickets in India’s second innings, he bowled England to the most unlikely of victories – a surprise result hailed as one of the all-time greats.

England were bowled to an unlikely victory against India, in a performance that has been hailed as one of the all-time greats

Hartley’s parents watched their son from their plant nursery in Maghull, Merseyside – later revealing they planned a modest celebration in the form of a cup of herbal tea

Hartley’s girlfriend Lauren Turner – understood to be a physiotherapist – was able to watch his debut after dashing to Nottingham

However, in what has become something of a theme during his slow but steady rise to the top, the 24-year-old’s supportive parents were unable to watch his triumph in person. They were 4,700 miles away watching him on television at the family plant nursery in Maghull, Merseyside – later revealing they planned a modest celebration in the form of a cup of herbal tea.

‘Wow,’ wrote his mother Ann-Louise and father Bill on Facebook. ‘Proud doesn’t cover it! What a fantastic start for our son, and hopefully more to come. We are overwhelmed with the support from our customers and local community too. How amazing to know that he has so many people willing him on! Not to mention all of the time, effort and support from Ormskirk Cricket Club – where it all started. Now for a herbal tea, we think our heart rates might come down eventually.’

A keen schoolboy footballer, Hartley’s earliest sporting ambitions lay with Everton FC.

But moving to £13,500-a-year Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby pointed him in a different direction to either football or athletics like his father, who became a rugby league sprint coach after winning gold in the 4x400m relay in Rome in 1974.

‘When he was in year five or six, each class was given a bat, a ball, and a set of stumps and told it would be good for them to play at breaktimes and lunchtime and that’s how he started,’ his father told The Cricketer magazine.

His son added: ‘Dad always had me in the back garden playing footy and cricket and stuff.

‘He was quite happy for me to go down my own route, he didn’t pressure me to go into athletics.’

A self-confessed ‘chubby’ teenager, Hartley made his debut for Lancashire in 2020, with his parents unable to watch due to pandemic restrictions on sporting events. Last September he made his England one-day debut against Ireland at Trent Bridge with his first cap presented by Flintoff.

But again his parents had to make do with a television screen.

‘My family had been quizzing me as to whether they should come down, but I told them not to bother as I wasn’t going to play,’ Hartley said. It was only at breakfast on the morning of the match that the coach informed him a team-mate had come down with tonsillitis and he was starting. ‘I texted them that morning saying ‘oops’,’ he recalled.

However his girlfriend Lauren – understood to be a physiotherapist – was able to watch his debut after dashing to Nottingham.