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Sale 2nd XI suffered their first defeat of the season at home to fellow promotion hopefuls Birkenhead Park. The visitors were asked to bat and made full use of a great batting deck. Birkenhead looked a well organised side, running well between the wickets and punishing the bad ball when it came.
Clarkson was the main bat, scoring 54 before becoming one of Moore's 5 victims. Four other batsman made it past 20, meaning that Birkenhead posted a challenging 223 all out in 48 overs.
Sale made the worst possible start when Malik was trapped LBW for 1. Partner Pegler was going well when given caught behind off his sleeve by the Birkenhead Umpire. Stand-in skipper Whitelegg made a spirited 21 before being caught, leaving Sale reeling.
A spirited 7th wicket fight-back from O'Donnell and Hopkins got Sale back in with a chance of victory, however the Birkenhead umpire struck again giving O'Donnell (24) out LBW to a ball clearly pitching outside leg stump.
Hopkins (19 not out) then ran out of partners as Sale slumped to 136 all out. Some poor decisions meant that the game was not as close as it could have been, but Birkenhead were the better side and deserved their victory. Sale will need to raise their game next week if they are to get their season back on track.
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