A second Saltburn Cricket Club player appears to have used the finger-clicking trick at the centre of an international cheating storm, after an umpire released new footage of the alleged tactic being deployed in a separate match.
The clip was posted on social media by Berkshire-based umpire Andy Smy and appears to show a Saltburn fielder clicking his fingers as a ball passes the bat into the wicketkeeper’s gloves, prompting the on-field umpire to give the batsman out. The footage is from a Third XI match against Marton.
Saltburn was already under investigation after video went viral appearing to show fielder Brian Devine, 38, clicking his fingers during a Second XI Division Two match against Norton to mimic the sound of a bat edge and trick an umpire into ruling the batsman out. Devine, widely dubbed “Clicky Ponting” on social media, has since been suspended by the club for the foreseeable future.
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League launched a formal investigation into Devine on Monday and said it was treating the allegations “with the utmost seriousness.” It called for the rights of all parties to be respected and said it would aim to provide wellbeing support to those at the club.
A captain of another team in the same league said the alleged tactic was not limited to the Norton match. “It was not confined to just one game,” he said. “I was at the other end when one of our players was dismissed and I heard a big sound as the ball went through and immediately thought: ‘He’s out.'”
He said three of his batsmen were given out caught behind, but all insisted they had not touched the ball. “One protested so much the umpire had to speak to him and threaten him with a warning,” he said. He claimed at least three other teams now had suspicions and pointed to a Saltburn match against Shildon in which the wicketkeeper took eight catches. “I hope the league takes appropriate action,” he added.
Saltburn’s Second XI forfeited a cup match against Marton earlier this week, with a source close to the league saying none of the players had wanted to take part while under such scrutiny. The first team returned on Saturday for a league fixture against the same opponents and crashed to a nine-wicket defeat. Without Devine fielding at slip, Marton chased down a target of 101 in just 20 overs.
Devine, a father and auction mart worker from Guisborough, North Yorkshire, is said to be planning to lie low until the scandal passes. A friend said he was “completely bewildered” by the worldwide attention, with coverage reaching Australia, India and New Zealand. An Australian podcast offered to pay his legal bills, which the friend said was “the first he’s heard that he’s got any legal bills.”
Saltburn said in a statement on Wednesday that the experience had been “very distressing and stressful” for all concerned and asked that personal boundaries be respected, describing itself as “an amateur club run entirely by volunteers.”
