Sale Cricket Club is recorded as being founded in 1854, although the first games were played as early as 1852. The pavilion was a thatched cottage close to the edge of the present square. The ground expanded to its present size after 1947.
In the early years the club employed professional cricketers including William Wotherspoon who played for Cheshire in the 1880’s. John Fullalove also played for Cheshire and took 10 wickets (9 bowled) in 1897, while James Cookson played for Cheshire at cricket, rugby and hockey.
Sir Edwin Stockton and his brother Albert dominated the club for 40 years in terms of cricketing prowess and their contributions to running both Sale and Lancashire. Leg spinner Edwin headed the club bowling averages for many years, while Albert was a forceful batsman. Sale were the first winners of the Manchester Association Stockton trophy in 1920 when Sir Edwin presented the cup to the Sale captain, his brother Albert.
Other notable Sale players have included C R Hartley, who joined Sale after retiring from first class cricket with Lancashire, scoring over a 1,000 runs and taking 75 wickets in 1911. Fred Beattie played for Lancashire and was captain of Sale in the 30s leading the side to a second Stockton Trophy in 1938.
Battle of Britain pilot Alan Gilbert returned to captain the 1st XI with style and success from 1946-51 and again in 1954. Under his leadership Sale won the Stockton Trophy once more in 1947. He was a magnificent wicket-keeper, prolific batsman and respected captain also playing for Cheshire from 1951-56.
Other notable ex-players include Derek Peaker, who became captain and later President of Lancashire, Keith Peet, Gordon Cooper and Mike Newton (3,600 runs from 1960-68). Duncan Smith matched Fullalove’s performance in 1975 when he took all 10 wickets against Ashton-on-Mersey. Leigh Burns, a West Australian, scored a club record 1,064 league runs in 1996, and Glyn Roberts, Sale’s longest serving member scored no fewer than 6,651 runs and took 432 wickets since 1968.
After being founder members of the Manchester Association in 1892, Sale joined the Cheshire County League in 1996, but found itself at a low ebb in the early 2000’s, had no junior section and was relegated to the 4th tier of the pyramid.
The turnaround our fortunes since then has been remarkable and the club now boast one of the best playing facilities in the county, a thriving junior section and a successful senior section. Since 2004 the club has won 9 divisional titles and 3 cups, including the Cheshire Shield in 2011, the same year it was named both Chance to Shine Project of the year and Most Improved Club.
The 1st XI under the captaincy of Chris Canning is arguably the strongest it has been for 60 years or more and has seen a number of outstanding players including leg spinner Rick Halkon (500+ wickets), brother Dan (4,000 runs), Hasan Khan (1,972 runs in 2009/10) and Wihan Lubbe (1,011 runs in 2012).
