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Sale won comfortably against Mobberley on Saturday, picked up a maxmium 25 points and enjoyed a major contribution from man-of-the-match overseas player Xavier Marshall who top-scored with 90 and took two wickets (one at pace and at spin) and two brilliant catches.
Put into bat first Sale made a rapid start with Marshall dominating the batting, He rode his luck early on as a few balls hit the edge and went through the slips or into vacant spaces beyond fielders. Also his running between the wickets on a hot sticky day more typical of his native Jamaica (but with the handicap of an unfamiliar compulsory helmet) was rather erratic and did not always recognise the lower energy levels of his heavily perspiring partners. Nonetheless he played some shots of immaculate timing and reached his 50 with a huge six into Kingston Drive from only 56 balls, putting on an opening stand of 63 with Matt Millward (16) and then added 47 out of 58 in a second wicket partnership with Azhar Butt. Just as he looked certain to reach his century he holed out to a deep and lonely square leg for 90 to a rank long hop! His innings included 9 boundaries in addition to the six and came out of 121 to which his partners contributed only 24. At his dismissal Kameran Mohammed (30) played the anchor role that saw Sale through to its fifth batting point at 180 in the 45th over. Stands with Rob Walton (19) and Joel Alderson (12 no) helped Sale finally reach a creditable 209 -6 off their 50 overs with leg spinner Ahmed the leading Mobberley bowler with 4 for 73.
Marshall and Mark Almond opened the Sale bowling with accurate pace attack and took a wicket each in the 7th and 8th overs to put the visitors under early pressure. Indeed they never really recovered from this as Sale bowled and fielded tidily, inspired by the enthusiasm of young Marshall. League regulations meant that, bowling pace, he had to come off after 6 overs but his replacement Mohammed snapped up ex-Sale player Din in his third over to a fine overhead catch at mid on by ....Marshall ! Tariq Butt made a welcome 1st XI return with a fine caught and bowled in the next over and Mobberley were soon 52 for 4. Skipper Gibbon added a rapid 36 with the third of the Blackburn family to bat but the introduction of debutant Mike Mackenzie soon had the visitors in trouble again. Mackenzie had Blackbum taken to a brilliant low catch at point by that man Marshall and in his third over added two more scalps in consecutive balls to leave the visitors struggling on 92 for 7. Marshall, never out of the game, returned bowling off-spin but it was Mackenzie again who took the vital wicket of Gibbon for 29. Not to be outdone, Marshall snapped up Wheeldon well caught behind by Joel Alderson and the final wicket fell to Mohammed at 131 with 8 overs remaining. Mackenzie finished with an impressive 4 for 16 of his 7 overs and the other four bowlers chipped in with one or two wickets each to seal Sale's well-earned victory. Marshall celebrated afterwards with a special haircut by his team-mates in the changing room that may make him difficult to recognise next week...although his exceptional natural talent will always identify him as a rather special cricketer who has a big future ahead of him.
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