SALE jumped up to fifth place in the Cheshire County League Division One, beating both bottom-placed Tattenhall and the weather on Saturday with a six-wicket triumph.

Electing to bowl first with rain around, Sale had opener Josh Harding caught at first slip off Tyrone Lawrence for just seven.

Henry Dobson and Dylan Reeves then tried to consolidate, taking the score to 45 off 20 overs before Reeves was

bowled by Ali Barrowman for a patient 13.

Without adding to the score, Dobson called new batsman Koppack through for a single, but he was easily run out by Lawrence.

With a scoring rate under two an over, Tattenhall had reached 52 when Dobson (29) inexplicably hit the ball straight to Lawrence.

Two quick wickets for Barrowman and one for Richard Adams reduced the home side to 54-7.

Captain Owen Williamson hit a brisk 26 to lift his team to 93, before he ballooned a high catch to Luke McCoy, the innings closing shortly after for 99 all out. Lawrence took the final wicket to finish with 3-15, well supported by Barrowman

with 3-7.

With rain in the air, Sale’s openers Mat Spells and Brooke Guest set about their task of scoring the runs required as quickly as possible, taking 26 runs off the first four overs.

With the score on 58, Spells was stumped for 33 – off just 35 balls.

Guest and McCoy continued the scoring rate as two successive fours from Guest took him to 46.

Needing a boundary to seal both his 50 and the Sale win, he was bowled by Dobson.

With the rain starting to get heavier McCoy went first ball of the next over to a juggling catch from Dobson for 17. However, Ian Dixon held his nerve, pulling his fourth delivery for four to take Sale to 101-4 and seal victory inside 20 overs.

Within minutes of leaving the field large puddles started to form on the outfield meaning a resumption would have been doubtful.

The second XI could not force a win against bottom-of-the-table Bramhall in a game reduced to 78 overs.

Sale declared on 152-6 off 35 overs, Joe Cannon (38), Siyan Siraj (34) and Abas Rizvi (30) leading the way.

With only one wicket left the visitors managed to hold on for a draw, reaching 100 off the remaining 43 overs, Siraj the leading bowler with 4-19.

The third XI were well beaten by league leaders Didsbury on Sunday.

Sale batted first and totalled 128-3, Howard Briggs (45) and Ian Holland (38) the unbeaten batsmen.

Sale took three early wickets to reduce the visitors to 26-3, Shah Zeb claiming two of them, but lost only one more wicket as they reached their target with overs to spare.

The fourth XI were involved in a close game at Cheadle Hulme.

Sale reached 170-9 in pursuit of the hosts' 184-4, Linesh Sorathia top scoring with 75 and taking two wickets, while son Viraj added a valuable 27.

Sale Silverbacks could n’ot beat the weather as their over-40s game at home to Bramhall was cancelled.

The first XI travel to Oulton Park on Saturday, while the seconds host Upton.

On Sunday, the third XI welcome Cheadle and the fourths are at Cheadle Hulme Ladybridge.