Back-rower Croft has made a successful return after a neck injury in recent weeks and makes his fifth appearance of the season – and 100th starting appearance for the club – this weekend.
Mathew Tait and Niall Morris return to the backline for Saturday – Leicester’s only home fixture during March – while Thomas Waldrom returns from the England squad to take the Tigers No8 shirt.
Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “We’ve had disappointing results in the last two weeks but in terms of performance we’ve done some good things.
“There are still six games remaining so there is a lot of rugby to be played yet and a lot of points still up for grabs. We keep a positive frame of mind and just keep battling away.”
Tigers are without six players retained by England this weekend. Anthony Allen, Martin Castrogiovanni, Louis Deacon, Geordan Murphy, Boris Stankovich and Miles Benjamin are unavailable due to injury.
Tickets for Saturday’s game are still available from the Tigers ticket office. Call in at Welford Road or phone 0844 856 1880 to book your place (open until 5pm Friday and from 9am Saturday). Or book online any time and collect your tickets on the way to the game.
Saturday’s match is not scheduled for any live TV coverage.
Leicester Tigers (v Sale Sharks, Welford Road, Saturday 3pm)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Niall Morris
13 Matt Smith
12 Dan Bowden
11 Adam Thompstone
10 George Ford
9 Sam Harrison
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Logovi’i Mulipola
4 Ed Slater
5 Graham Kitchener
6 Tom Croft (c)
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Kieran Brookes
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Brett Deacon
20 Jordan Crane
21 Micky Young
22 Matt Cornwell
23 Scott Hamilton
Sale Sharks: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Will Addison, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Cillian Willis, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 James Gaskell, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 6 Dan Braid, 7 David Seymour (c) 8 Richie Vernon
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Andy Powell, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Danny Cipriani, 23 Jordan Davies
