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

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

player who has played for the

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England A and

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

cricket teams.

Domestic career

Sales was educated at

Caterham School (Truth without Fear) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Protestant (United Reformed Church) , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

, an

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the 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 valley but rises to equal ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. 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 county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

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 NBC Denis Compton Award was an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 first-class counties in England and Wales. The award was made between 1996 and 2011. A player may receive the award more than once. Hist ...

. 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. 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. A centennial or ...

against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

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 Wellington Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club in Wellington, near Telford in Shropshire. Their 1st XI play in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier Division, which they won in 2003 and 2004. The side was relegated to Division 1 a ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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 of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Northamptonshire replacing

Mike Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former international cricketer, who played all forms of the game. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname 'Mr Cricket'. Hussey was a relative la ...

. 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 Africa XI team for 2005 Afro-Asia Cup. He is the ...

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 James Middlebrook (born 13 May 1977) is a former English first-class cricketer, who last played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club on a short-term contract. He played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling off spin. Since retiring f ...

to represent the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) against

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

. 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, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

match against

. 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 a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, 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 James John Grimwood Sales (born 11 February 2003) is an English cricketer. He made his List A debut on 8 August 2021, for Northamptonshire in the 2021 Royal London One-Day Cup. He made his first-class debut on 5 September 2021, for Northamptonsh ...

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