David John Grimwood Sales (born 3 December 1977) is an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

player who has played for the

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, England A and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

cricket teams.

Domestic career

Sales was educated at Caterham School, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge (district), Tandridge district of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valle ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

. On his debut at the age of 16, he became the youngest scorer of a half-century in the Sunday League, scoring 70 not out against Essex. He scored 0 and 210 not out on his first-class debut for Northamptonshire against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

in 1996. At 18, he became the youngest player to score a double hundred in the Championship, and in the same year, received the NBC Denis Compton Award. The 210* was not his highest score however; he has passed 200 six other times including a triple

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in 1999 at the age of 21. In 1999, Sales became Northamptonshire's youngest recipient of a county cap. In late 2001, he joined Wellington cricket club in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

for a year. In 2004, he was made

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of Northamptonshire replacing Mike Hussey. While captain, he continued to score at an average of over 40, but in 2008, he chose to step down from the role prematurely to concentrate on his batting and boost his chances of playing for England. He was replaced by

Nicky Boje Nico Boje ( ; born 20 March 1973) is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockO ...

for the start of the 2008 season. During the 2009 season, he was ruled out in March with injury until 2010. In January 2010, Sales was picked along with new teammate James Middlebrook to represent the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) against Durham in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

. This was his first game since his injury in 2009. Sales retired from cricket at the end of the 2014 season. His final match was a

NatWest t20 Blast The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is t ...

match against Durham. The match was stopped due to rain with no result; Sales did not bat in his final match.

International career

Sales was tipped for England honours early in his career. He played for the Under 19 side while in his last year of compulsory education and made the step up a year later playing for England A. However, on an 'A' tour to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, he sustained ligament damage to his knee playing beach volleyball before playing a game and missed the whole of the 2001 English season. Sales has been identified as the best player never to receive England Test cricket recognition.

Personal life

His son James Sales is also a professional cricketer for Northants.

References

External links

*
Player Profile: David Sales
from northantscricket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sales, David 1977 births Living people English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Northamptonshire cricket captains People educated at Caterham School Wellington cricketers NBC Denis Compton Award recipients Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers

Domestic career

International career

Personal life

See also

References

External links