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‘It’s not cricket’: cheating row as ‘Clicky Ponting’ appears to dupe umpire

An amateur cricketer in England has been suspended by his club after footage went viral allegedly showing him clicking his fingers to mimic the sound of the ball hitting the bat. The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League is investigating, and the club has forfeited its next match.

By Tertius News AI Desk 2 outlets · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Jul 28–30, 2026 Published Aug 14

Lead

An amateur cricketer in England has been suspended by his club after footage went viral allegedly showing him clicking his fingers to mimic the sound of the ball hitting the bat, a move that has prompted a league investigation and drawn comparisons to Australian cricket's 'Sandpapergate' scandal.

Brian Devine, a player for Saltburn Cricket Club, has been suspended for the rest of the season, the club announced. The suspension comes after several videos were posted online with claims that Devine was clicking his fingers as the ball passed the bat to mimic the sound of an edge, potentially deceiving the umpire into thinking the batter had nicked the ball.

Coverage comparison

Reporting on the incident, ABC Australia and The Guardian both detailed the viral footage and the league's response. ABC Australia focused on the club's decisive action, reporting that Saltburn Cricket Club suspended Devine and forfeited its next match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League. The Guardian, meanwhile, emphasized the wider reaction, noting that the footage had been shared more than 3 million times and had sparked a lively debate online.

Both outlets reported that the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has promised a full investigation into the incident. The Guardian specified that the complaint arose after Saturday's division two match between Saltburn 2nd XI and Norton 2nd XI, a detail not included in ABC Australia's report. ABC Australia also noted that an amateur data analyst on social media had trawled scorecards from Saltburn games and found that wicketkeeper catches dramatically increased when Devine was playing—a claim not mentioned by The Guardian.

Key claims

Footage of alleged cheating in a cricket match went viral, showing a fielder apparently clicking his fingers to mimic a nick.
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has promised a full investigation into the alleged cheating incident.
The incident occurred in a division two match between Saltburn 2nd XI and Norton 2nd XI.
Brian Devine has been suspended by his club over allegations of clicking to mimic the sound of the ball hitting the bat.
The club has forfeited its next match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League.
An amateur data analyst found that wicketkeeper catches dramatically increased when Devine played.

Devine has not commented on the matter, and the league investigation is ongoing. The club said in a statement that it was treating the allegation with the utmost seriousness and that Devine would not play again for the club this season or in the foreseeable future, pending the outcome of the investigation.

The incident has been dubbed 'Clicky Ponting' online, a play on the name of former Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Ben Mummery, who posted the video on social media, called it "about the worst case of cheating I've ever seen in cricket," and expressed hope for the "harshest possible punishment." Rory Cotterill, who captained Middlesbrough CC's 2nd XI in a defeat to Saltburn in June, said a similar situation had occurred in that match, sharing a video allegedly showing the same player clicking his fingers.

The league has yet to conclude its investigation, and the allegations remain unproven at this stage.

How each outlet told it

ABC Australia as of Jul 30, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC

Framing: Amateur cricketer suspended over 'Clicky Ponting' scandal — Neutral and factual

Facts Included:

Brian Devine has been suspended by his club over allegations of clicking to mimic the sound of the ball hitting the bat
An amateur data analyst found that wicketkeeper catches dramatically increased when Devine played
The club has forfeited its next match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League
Devine has not commented on the matter
The league investigation is ongoing

Read the source article →

The Guardian — World as of Jul 28, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

Framing: Alleged cheating scandal rocks English club cricket — Critical and disapproving

Facts Included:

Footage of alleged cheating in a cricket match went viral
A fielder is accused of clicking his fingers to mimic a nick
The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has promised a full investigation
The incident occurred in a division two match between Saltburn 2nd XI and Norton 2nd XI
The league has a history of competitive matches, but this incident has sparked outrage

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimFootage of alleged cheating in a cricket match went viral, showing a fielder apparently clicking his fingers to mimic a nick.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source quoted from The Guardian — World as of Jul 28, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC the outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimThe North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has promised a full investigation into the alleged cheating incident.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source quoted from The Guardian — World as of Jul 28, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC the outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimThe incident occurred in a division two match between Saltburn 2nd XI and Norton 2nd XI.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via The Guardian — World as of Jul 28, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC
ClaimBrian Devine has been suspended by his club over allegations of clicking to mimic the sound of the ball hitting the bat.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via ABC Australia as of Jul 30, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC
ClaimThe club has forfeited its next match in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via ABC Australia as of Jul 30, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC
ClaimAn amateur data analyst found that wicketkeeper catches dramatically increased when Devine played.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via ABC Australia as of Jul 30, 2026, 2:01 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 outlets · 2 articles consulted: ABC Australia, The Guardian — World 6 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-14