The dishonest membership cricketer dubbed ‘Clicky Ponting’ has been given a two-year ban from the game following an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) investigation.
In July, footage of Brian Devine, an newbie participant for Saltburn‘s 2nd crew, went viral all over the world after he was caught deceiving umpires by clicking his fingers because the ball handed the bat to mimic an edge and declare wickets for his crew.
He was subsequently given the tongue-in-cheek nickname ‘Clicky Ponting’ – a play on former Australian captain Ricky Ponting – and the scandal induced amusement and outrage in equal measure.
Devine has now been banned for 2 years from involvement in cricket in any kind, be that enjoying, teaching and even scoring, in accordance with Teesside Live.
His crew on the coast of the north-east of England have additionally suffered – punished with relegation to the third division the place they may begin the 2027 season with a 60-point deduction along with a £300 effective.
An announcement from Saltburn CC learn: ‘The membership totally participated within the disciplinary proceedings and settle for the choice of the attraction following the unique resolution from the League. We are actually focussing on preparations for the 2027 season.
Brian Devine – dubbed ‘Clicky Ponting’ – has been banned from cricket till September, 2028
‘The punishments come after an intensive course of which included participant interviews, written statements and an in depth assessment of the video footage. The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League have emailed each membership of their system to acknowledge the pressure the scandal had induced.’
Devine, 38, has performed for years at Saltburn Cricket Membership and is well-known on the cricket scene in North Yorkshire.
The daddy-of-one, from Guisborough, Cleveland, works as an organization secretary at Northallerton Auctions, which specialises in auctions for livestock and farm equipment and all of the sudden turned the centre of a narrative that captured international consideration.
His outrageous dishonest racked up tens of millions of views on-line and the story got here to mild after a match towards Norton Cricket Membership.
Footage confirmed Norton batsman Noman Shabir play at and fully miss his first supply which had pitched exterior the off stump.
Because the ball handed Shabir the fielder standing at first slip, Devine, clicked his fingers.
This imitated the sound of the ball nicking the sting of Shabir’s bat and when the wicketkeeper took the catch, the umpire raised his finger to offer Shabir out.
The sport occurred to have been live-streamed on-line and a recording was preserved on the ECB’s ‘Play Cricket’ web site.
The Saltburn participant was seen on digital camera clicking his fingers every time the ball neared the bat
A Durham-based newbie cricketer named Ben Mummery, who had been tipped off concerning the collection of occasions, posted footage to X, the place he dubbed it ‘concerning the worst case of dishonest I’ve ever seen in cricket’.
It racked up tens of millions of views and put Saltburn beneath worldwide scrutiny from cricket followers throughout the globe.
Viewers turned up dozens of comparable incidents from the archives, suggesting that Saltburn (which, satirically, calls itself a ‘pleasant, sociable and inclusive cricket membership’) had been using the cynical rip-off for greater than a season.
In nearly each one of many clips that emerged, Devine is the fielder standing at first slip.
Piers Morgan dubbed the membership’s behaviour ‘outrageous dishonest’ and a ‘shameful rip-off’.
The statistics additionally outlined the dimensions of the breathtaking deception. Within the 13 matches that Devine performed for Saltburn final season, wicketkeepers took an astonishing 39 catches.
Within the seven that he did not play, they managed simply 5. In a single match towards Shildon Railway on July 18, no fewer than eight catches have been claimed by wicketkeeper Josh Bowes.
To place that quantity in perspective, the report for wicketkeeper catches taken in a single males’s Check innings, over a interval spanning 2,600 matches and 150 years, is a mere seven.
Saltburn-by-the-Sea’s historic cricket floor, with its white picket fence and neatly mown outfield. Its crew have now been booted out the league
Devine was suspended by the membership when the dishonest was unearthed on-line and in addition confronted the ignominy of being ditched by his official sponsor, a neighborhood Indian restaurant named Spices which he patronises recurrently.
Again in July when the scandal broke, it was left to Georgina Vaughn, the mom of Devine’s accomplice Clare, to defend his honour.
She informed Man Adams, Each day Mail Senior Function Author: ‘It was solely a bit of village cricket match and now it is change into this factor that is all around the information and social media. It’s got completely out of hand and there’s nothing any of us need to say.’
Requested whether or not Devine was a person of integrity, she replied: ‘He definitely is.’
The ECB’s investigation has discovered in any other case and Devine won’t be able to return to the game till September 2028.
