Sale suffered a disappointing loss to 1st XI Division One leaders Didsbury, knocking Sale down to fifth position – now thirty three points from the second promotion spot.
The day had already got off to a better start for Didsbury before a ball had even been bowled; Didsbury won the toss and elected to bowl first – the much preferred (and much more successful) formula for a win.
Although very early days, Sale had got off to good start; reaching fifteen inside the fourth over. This start, though, was shortlived as Brooke Guest tried to pull and edged onto his stumps for just six.
Things then took a turn for the worse when Tyrone Lawrence looked to leave a ball from Richard White, but it appeared that the ball glanced the bat and the way through and was easily taken by ‘keeper Sam Leech. Lawrence was dismissed for just four, and Sale had lost their two best batsman for the total gain of only twenty seven runs.
Sale desperately needed a partnership between Mat Spells and the new batsman, Luke McCoy. They indeed did get one, as the pair put on fifty in good time and looked to be comfortable. However, just four balls after the halfway mark of the innings, McCoy tried to thrash Simon Normanton away – but the ball only was sliced to Tom Warren, who took a comfortable catch at point, McCoy gone for thirty six with Sale 83-3.
Spells was then joined by Chris Canning – still recovering from injury – and the pair added twenty three, but this partnership was ended when Canning ran down the wicket to Matt Gregson and was stumped by Leech for fifteen, leaving Sale 106-4 with fifteen overs and two balls remaining in the innings.
Ian Dixon then tried to hit Gregson down the ground, but only succeeded in offering a simple chance to Tim Hughes at mid-on, and was then followed back to the pavilion by Mat Spells, as he tried to slog-sweep Michael Taylor but popped up a simple catch to Nick Anderson at mid-on – the Sale men falling for five and forty four, respectively, to leave Sale 119-6.
Ben Watkin was then bowled by Taylor for six, and Paul Battersby skied a pull off Normanton to Hamza Ahmed at square leg – leaving Sale in real trouble at 135-8 with 45.1 overs played.
Taz Tharshan struck the ball right at Normanton, inexplicably starting off a run; the throw from Normanton easily beating him home, Tharshan gone for only two.
Last pair Rob Greenhough and Richard Adams tried to add as many runs as they can, but could only manage five more to the total – taking Sale to 142 – before the former was pinned LBW by Normanton (who finished with figures of 3-44), with Sale taking only forty eight overs, meaning that if necessary, Didsbury could have fifty two overs to chase their target.
Sale knew that taking ten Didsbury wickets would likely be the only way to get a positive result from the match, and some early pressure led to the first wicket in the sixth over: with the score on seventeen, Nick Anderson, on seven, clipped a low full-toss from Taz Tharshan to Richard Adams at square leg – who hung on to a high chance.
Tharshan then struck again – just five runs lafer, as the other opener, Tim Hughes, was caught off the edge by Chris Canning for fourteen. This left Didsbury 23-2, with Sale in the ascendancy.
Sale built pressure on Simon Normanton and Matt Marfani, the Didsbury number three and four, including twenty nine dots in a row to the former. But, try as they might, Sale could not force the further wickets they needed, and a brilliant unbroken partnership of one-hundred and twenty saw Didsbury to, in the end, a comfortable eight-wicket win.
The 1st XI will look to keep the pressure on the top teams next week, as they travel to Davenham – whom they beat by five wickets in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Simon Normanton: 14.0-2-44-3
Mat Spells: 44 (122); 0x4s, 0x6s
Luke McCoy: 36 (57); 4x4s, 0x6s
Simon Normanton: 60* (87); 8x4s, 0x6s
Matt Marfani: 59* (85); 8x4s, 1×6
MATCH SCORECARD: http://bit.ly/2ai7331
Sale Cricket Club 