Cricket club celebrates with free beer as local lad Tom Hartley leads England to 'greatest ever' win in India

Ormskirk Cricket Club celebrated former player Tom Hartley handing England a thrilling 28-run victory over India on his debut in Hyderabad by handing out free drinks.

The left-handed bowler, who came through the ranks at Ormskirk CC, took an incredible seven-wicket haul on his debut, including the winning wicket in what has been dubbed one of England's 'greatest ever' wins in India.

The 24-year-old son of a former 100 meter champion was even handed a souvenir stump by captain Ben Stokes as England took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Hartley took seven of Engand's nine wickets in 19 overs in the second innings as India, a team notorious for performing well at home, were stunned by the bowling ability of the relatively unknown man from Ormskirk.

In the first innings, the 6'4" left armer bowled for 25 overs securing two wickets and allowing 131 runs. In the second innings, he was the hero England didn’t know they needed, bowling for 26.2 overs, 5 maidens and seven wickets whilst only allowing 62 runs.

Hartley, came through the ranks at Ormskirk Cricket Club, who are now throwing a celebration for him after his remarkable victory. The club is welcoming all members with a free drink. Chairmen Bill Rankin said it was 'unbelievable' to see one of the club's ex-juniors perform so well at such a high level.

Hartley’s addition to the team shocked many and when his first ball was hit for a six, more eyebrows were raised. But he made history when he became the first English bowler to get seven wickets on their debut since Jim Laker in 1948. 

The 24-year-old is the son of 4x100 meter champion Billy Hartley who won gold at European Championship in 1974.  He plays professionally for Lancashire making his debut for the county side in 2019 as well as Manchester Originals.

He made his ODI debut last year against Ireland, a game where he was handed his cap by former England star Andrew Flintoff.  Captain Ben Stokes labelled the victory as the 'greatest triumph' since he was appointed captain. 

It was a match for the ages, as India had only lost three of their previous 46 home test matches. They led by an astounding 190 runs after the first innings leading many people to count England out. Odds of India winning were a whopping 1/50.

But England prevailed, scoring 420 runs in the second innings, with India only managed to score 202, due largely to the impressive bowling of Hartley.

England will face India four more times over the next month and a half in the Test World series with their next game on 2 February at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, in Visakhapatnam, India.