‘It’s just not cricket’: seaside town reacts to ‘Clickgate’ cheating row

Laughter, disbelief and outrage over video appearing to show Saltburn player tricking umpire into giving batters out

A t the Saltburn over-60s ukulele club there was a unanimous reaction to news that the town’s cricket club were being compared to the Argentina football team: laughter. Then a spirited rendition of I Love to Boogie.

On the seafront, a litter-picking volunteer was looking forward to the Wednesday night quiz just to get the gossip. But she had her own view. “All I would say is it’s just not cricket, is it?”

Bill Peters, a retired steelworker on a day out from Middlesbrough with his wife, Janet, reflected on what would have happened in St Lucia where he played cricket growing up. “There would have been a big fight,” he said slowly and purposefully.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a lovely Victorian town in north-east England whose usual claim to fame is the cliff lift, the oldest water-balanced funicular still in operation in Great Britain, although currently out of operation.

This week it has become the centre of a cheating story that has made headlines all over the world.

It began after a video was posted online of Saturday’s game between Saltburn second XI and Norton second XI.

The video appeared to show a fielder clicking his fingers as the batter swings for the ball. The fielder has been accused of trying to trick the umpire into thinking the ball clipped the edge of the bat before being caught.

The bemused batter can be seen protesting to the umpire as Saltburn players celebrate.

It has been called ‘Clickgate’ and the fielder dubbed ‘Clicky Ponting’, although his name is Brian.

Ponting, a former Australian cricket captain, is, it should be emphasised, entirely blameless and not a character in the affair beyond his name Ricky rhyming with Clicky.

The clip has been viewed more than 7m times and has made headlines around the world including, as would be expected, in Australia. One wit on Facebook remarked: “It’s official, Saltburn are the Argentina of local cricket.”

Neither Saltburn nor Norton have commented on the affair, which is being investigated by the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League.

When the Guardian visited the cricket club no one wanted to talk. Tennis players arriving for games on the adjacent courts just burst out laughing.

In town, Pete Welsh, part of the litter-picking posse, was struggling to get his head round it. “It must have been a very loud click,” said the retired teacher. “If he was doing it and cricket is a gentleman’s game, it wasn’t very gentleman-like. I reckon if the lad has anything about him he will come forward and say yes, it was me.”

Just how someone managed to click his fingers so loudly that the umpire heard it is baffling a lot of people. The commentator Jonathan Agnew, told BBC Breakfast : “I can’t wrap my head round it. Can I hear someone click his fingers from 30 yards away? That umpire … must have incredible hearing. They call it a gentleman’s game, but it’s not really.”

The story has prompted many jokes but if you play cricket in the league then it is less of a laughing matter.

In Saltburn’s previous match, against Shildon Railway second XI, the wicketkeeper made an incredible eight catches in his team’s 22-run victory. The men’s Test record for catches by a keeper in an innings is seven.

Shane Rowley was playing for Shildon Railway and is sure he was a victim of clicking. When he was judged out, he said to the umpire: “Come on, please. You know I haven’t hit that one. I was miles away from it. I wish I was somewhere near it!”

He didn’t hear the ball hit his bat – “but everyone else did,” Rowley told the Guardian. Or did they?

After the game and the eight catches behind, Rowley said they raised complaints about poor umpiring. After Clickgate footage emerged on social media, Rowley said he rang an umpiring official to apologise.

“I said, can I just retract what I said earlier in the week and apologise and please extend apologies to the umpires.”

Rowley said three players did get a nick on the ball before they were caught. The others were adamant they did not and were “absolutely fuming”. Including him, his team’s last man out.

“It is absolutely unbelievable,” said Rowley. “I’ve never been involved in a game where I’ve seen anything like it and I’ve been playing for 30 years, since I was eight.”

To say other clubs are annoyed might be an understatement. Ian Palmer, chair of Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club, said, if true, it was “scandalous”.

He added: “These are lads giving up all of their Saturday to play a game of cricket and if they are being cheated it is just not on really.”

The “Clicky Ponting” player has been identified as Brian Devine, a 38-year-old company secretary who has lost sponsorship from a local Indian restaurant. Unconfirmed reports suggest he has been suspended by his club. Devine did not respond to an approach for comment.

For Neal Toulson, a former chair of Thornaby Cricket Club and someone involved in the game for more than 50 years, the allegations are a reflection of a wider malaise.

“I think cricket in general has gone down the pan a little bit with regards to gamesmanship,” he said. “When I was a lad – and it’s a while ago now – you never even appealed unless you thought it was genuinely out. Now everybody’s shouting for everything. And then there’s the sledging.”

Sledging, the dark art of trying to put off a batter with insults or teasing, goes on all the time in lower league cricket, Toulson said.

He added: “You’d think they were playing for money. It’s crazy, right? I always took cricket seriously, I competed as hard as I could but at the same time – you play fair.”

Toulson said he hoped there would be a full investigation and if cheating was found then a ban should be the consequence.

“It has come across as a bit of a joke but it’s not. It’s cheating. If the guy is found guilty he should be punished. I’ve seen players banned for swearing to themselves and it is a lot worse than that.”