|
Sale's losing run continued on Saturday when they were soundly beaten by Birkenhead Park by 9 wickets.
Batting first on a hard track Sale made a promising start to reach 37 for the loss of Marshall caught behind; however, it was all uphill from then on as the home side took a stranglehold. Sale contributed to their own misfortune with some poor strokes and running between the wickets which led to two run outs. Matters were not helped by the illness of skipper Millward who eventually came in at number 10 and only some agricultural batting from Tufail gave the Sale innings a degree of respectability with 23. From his dismissal at 82 for 5 the remaining wickets fell for only 12 runs and the final total of 94 was never going to be enough to challenge the Park batsmen.
Sale had a moment of optimism in the second innings when opener Hunter fell to the second ball of the innings from Marshall. However, Aussie Livermore and Cooper made few mistakes in knocking off the remaining runs which they scored in 27 overs. Too many loose balls were punished and Sale could do little to resist the inevitable defeat. Keeper Joel Alderson took home a unwelcome reminder of the match when he was hit in the face to a ball from Rick Halkon that popped. All in all a day that hopefully Sale can put behind them as they strive for much needed points in what is proving to be a season of contrasts. They have lost 6 matches, more than any other team in the league, yet they have won very comfortably twice against Mobberley and Marple to show that they have the capability to put in fine performances and reverse their current fortunes.
|
