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Sale 2nd XI were made to work hard for their 3rd win of the season. Sale skipper Briggs lost his fourth consecutive toss and was put in the field by the home side. Marple made a brisk start, whilst losing two wickets to O'Donnell. A double change introduced off-spinner Tariq Butt & medium pacer Moore. They pegged back the scoring rate, whilst taking wickets at regular intervals. Butt, playing his first game for 9 months after illness, picked up 3 wickets. Moore bowled economically, picking up 2-30 from his 15 overs. When Marple were reduced to 102-8 Sale were in the driving seat, however they couldn't dislodge Bell (64*), who lead a charmed life throughout. He then added 76 with Baron (36*) for the 8th wicket, which pushed the score up to a challenging 178-8 in 51 overs.
Sale started positively, scoring ahead of the required rate thanks to opener Malik. Despite this, pacey bowler Coll took wickets at regular intervals to keep the Sale response in check. Almond was bowled twice off no-balls, before being run out. Zafar then joined Malik, who together pushed the Sale score onto 130. Malik was then run out for 46, tipping the balance towards Marple. Zafar took control, pushing the Sale response towards their target, with notable support from Stoddard. When Zafar was out for 49, Sale were still 10 runs short of their target with only 2 wickets in hand.
Stoddard pushed the final few singles about, before driving Sale to victory with a straight boundary in the penultimate over.
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