The amateur cricket team at the centre of the ‘Clicky Ponting’ cheating scandal have been dumped out of a cup competition on Wednesday – after they conceded their forthcoming match.
Saltburn second Xl had been expected to take on Marton seconds on Wednesday evening in a 100-balls-a-side match.
But with backlash from the cheating row showing no sign of abating, Saltburn forfeited the game and will lose their place in the competition run by the North Yorkshire and South Durham League.
Saltburn fielder Brian Devine is accused of clicking his fingers to imitate the sound of the ball hitting the bat, to fool the umpire into thinking the batsman is out.
The amateur cricket scandal has caused convulsions around the cricketing world.
A source close to the league said: ‘None of the Saltburn players will have wanted anything to do with this game while they’re under such focus.
Saltburn Cricket Club have forfeited a cup match in light of the ongoing backlash against them
‘They conceded the game and it won’t be replayed which will mean they will effectively be knocked out of the cup as a result of what happened at the weekend.
‘The match would have been a 100-ball thrash with the winner progressing to the later stages but Marton will go through now and Saltburn are out.
‘For the lads that take their cricket seriously at Saltburn, that’s a real blow but there was no way they were going to put themselves through that. It feels like the eyes of the world are on them right now.
‘They are due to play Marton again on Saturday in a league match. It remains to be seen what happens there.’
The minor league cricketer at the centre of the Clicky Ponting cheating scandal is ‘completely bewildered’ to find himself engulfed by a global furore.
Friends say Brian Devine’s ‘head is all over the place’ after the accusation that he clicked his fingers to imitate the sound of the ball snicking the bat in order to get opposing players dismissed.
Devine is expected to be dropped as his team, Saltburn Second Xl, was preparing for their first fixture since the cheating row erupted after their match with Norton seconds on Saturday in the North Yorkshire and South Durham cricket league.
Saltburn will take on Marton Seconds in a 100 balls-a-side league game on Wednesday night at Marton’s ground in Middlesbrough.
A friend of Devine’s said he was not expected to play and would ‘lie low’ while the cheating row continues.
The friend said: ‘Brian is completely bewildered by the way this has gone all around the world.
‘He’s had an Australian podcast offering to pay his legal bills today – it’s the first that he’s heard that he’s got any legal bills and he’s hoping it won’t get that far.
‘His mates have been telling him to sell his story in Australia, but he just wants it all to go away and hopes he can get back to playing cricket, though at the moment that feels impossible for him.
‘He woke up on Monday morning thinking the world was still the same place he’d left it the night before and suddenly his story was all over the world, in Australia, India, New Zealand and the UK of course.
‘He understands why there is an investigation but the reaction all over the world to all this has knocked him sideways.’
Mr Devine, 38, a father who lives with his partner in Guisborough, North Yorks, continued to decline to comment on Wednesday. His mobile phone number was also removed from the company website at the auction mart in Northallerton where he works.
Saltburn Cricket Club are also yet to issue any kind of statement about the cheating allegations.
At the North Yorkshire seaside team’s clubhouse, journalists were angrily told to leave by a club official, who said: ‘We’re sick of this now, you have no right to come here.’
The furore erupted after Norton batter Noman Shabir insisted he hadn’t touched the ball after was caught behind by the wicketkeeper and protested the decision to dismiss him.
Video footage shot from the sidelines appeared to show slip field Devine clicking his fingers at the moment the ball passed the bat.
Shabir explained what happened, posting online: ‘We’d just lost a couple of quick wickets so I wanted to just see the ball first.
‘Maybe if I went for a slog from the first ball and connected, I wouldn’t have been “clicked” out. Sad thing is we can see from all the evidence in this thread that he’s done it to all of the clubs in pretty much every game, and not a surprise now that they’re currently sitting top of the table.
‘Interestingly, when he got found out and the clicking stopped, the wickets also stopped for a long time and it became “boring” cricket for them.
‘First ever time I’ve been “clicked” out in all the years I’ve been playing cricket, and clearly I’m not the only one.’
Norton Cricket Club declined to comment but directed enquiries to the league, who later said they were investigating.
Other teams have also raised questions, querying whether their players were fairly dismissed.
They point out that Saltburn’s wicketkeeper Josh Bowes has taken 34 catches this season, close to double the record of his nearest counterpart, who has 19.
The skipper of another team in the same league said: ‘It’s now completely clear what has been happening and it was not confined to just one game.
‘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.”
‘The umpire didn’t hesitate either, but our batsman was adamant he was nowhere near the ball and couldn’t understand the loud click.
‘In all we had three batsmen given out who were caught behind but all of them said they didn’t touch the ball. One protested so much the umpire had to have a word and threaten a warning.
‘I know of at least three other teams who now have suspicions and it should be noted that in one match against Shildon their wicketkeeper took eight catches.
‘You hear of all kinds of things going on in cricket but this is something I haven’t heard of before and it’s disgraceful that somethings like this has been happening in competitive cricket. I hope the league takes appropriate action.’
