Sales out to end Lord's hoodoo

Textbook David Sales: Northants' premier batsman drives watchfully against Worcestershire last year

At Lord’s on July 13, 1996, an 18-year-old called David Sales watched in the stands as last man Curtly Ambrose fell short of his ground, signalling the end of Northamptonshire’s Benson & Hedges Cup dream.

Just 11 days after that defeat to Lancashire, young Sales announced himself to county cricket with a commanding 210 not out against Worcestershire, only the 11th instance of a double century on first-class debut.

Now 31, Sales’ runs show no signs of drying up, with over 6,000 plundered in first-class cricket in the last five seasons. Committed to Northamptonshire until 2012, Sales would love to lead the charge to another Lord’s final.

“It’s something I’ve been striving for the whole of my career,” Sales told ecb.co.uk. “We’d all love a day out at Lord’s.

“When I first came to Northamptonshire we did it twice. In 1995 we reached the NatWest Trophy final but lost to Warwickshire. Then in 1996 we reached the B&H Cup final and lost a game we should have won against Lancashire.

“It would be nice if we get to a Lord’s final again. In Twenty20 we’ve reached the quarter-finals three times, on the brink of finals day, and lost each time (in 2005, 2006 and 2008). We have to gel at crunch time if we’re to get to a final.”

Sales, a prodigy at England Under-19 and England A level, has stayed unwaveringly true to the county that nurtured him, but his loyalty was severely tested when his contract came up for renewal last year. He was courted by seven counties.

“I had a lot of decisions to make, and I decided to commit myself here. It was a bit touch and go at one stage, I must admit,” he says. “I was very close to going to Nottinghamshire, very close.

“I had some good meetings with them and really enjoyed what came out of them. There were a few things going on. It got a bit manic, but thankfully the PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association) took care of most of it.

“It started to affect me a little in the Friends Provident Trophy. That’s why I made the choice early on, for mine and Northamptonshire’s sake.

"My family is quite settled now. I didn’t fancy commuting like a businessman. It’s quite nice doing the school run in the morning before a match.

“I’ve dedicated a lot of my career to Northamptonshire and I still feel there’s some unfinished business to be done - we can win some silverware.”

July 1996: Alan Fordham is castled by Ian Austin as Northants slide to defeat in the Benson & Hedges Cup final at Lord's

Despite last year’s distractions, Sales still led the way with 1,137 first-class runs, and commanding centuries against Glamorgan, Leicestershire and Gloucestershire.

With two months to go, Northamptonshire were well in the LV= County Championship promotion race, but they failed to win a single game in any competition after July 24.

So imagine the alarm when the county’s premier batsman suffered ligament damage in his left knee during training in December - the same knee that required surgery after an accident on New Year’s Day 2001 playing beach volleyball in Grenada on an England A tour. On that occasion, Sales had to miss the entire 2001 season.

Sales underwent surgery just three weeks ago, making his appearance in Wednesday's opening championship match at Grace Road unlikely.

“I’m not too sure when I‘ll be ready; we’re just monitoring it at the moment,” Sales said.

“I had a bit of the reaction in a pre-season workout. Obviously you want to play in the first game, but it was only three weeks since I had the operation, so the timescale is a bit short.

“If it’s not bang on for the first match, then I should hopefully be ready for the second championship game with Kent.”

An interview with Sales rarely goes by without mention of the word ‘England’. This reporter couldn’t resist either - especially when armed with Sales’ inclusion at number three in The Wisden Cricketer magazine’s Greatest Post-war Uncapped XI.

“I’ve been very consistent over the last five years for Northamptonshire,” he says. “My aim each year is to be number one batsman, to get 1,000 runs in the championship, win one-day games for us, and push on from there.

“I just look at it this way - I’m paid to go out and score runs and that’s what I try and do.”