Cricket satirists The Grade Cricketer have offered to provide financial support to the player and club at the centre of a cheating scandal in a northern England league.
Veteran club cricketer Brian Devine has been dubbed “Clicky Ponting” by the English press, a reference to Australian great Ricky Ponting, as he awaits his fate for his alleged role in what one opponent has described as the “worst case of cheating I’ve ever seen”.
Devine and the Saltburn Cricket Club have received support from an unlikely ally in Sam Perry and Ian Higgins from The Grade Cricketer, who have written to the club offering to assist Devine in finding legal representation, if required, and to help them financially should they lose sponsorship from the saga.
The Grade Cricketer hosts have taken their stand in a show of support to the embattled club, whom they feel have been unfairly subjected to global condemnation for their “sharp practice” in a lowly league match.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan and South Africa great Dale Steyn are among those who have slammed Devine and Saltburn for their actions.
Morgan posted on X to his 8.9 million followers, “Unbelievable. Clicky Ponting must be the biggest cheat in cricket history. How long has he been doing this? How many batsmen’s days has he ruined?”
TGC have also written to the North Yorkshire & South Durham Cricket League offering to support a “penguin fund” to support and train umpires.
“TGC aims to find humanity in the absurdity of cricket, for everyone who never made it,” TGC said in a statement sent to this masthead.
“For over a decade we have celebrated and benefitted from the low-rent charm of club cricket’s rich, dark underbelly, alongside hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
“Of course, it would appear some members at Saltburn CC have engaged in comically sharp practice. But sadly, when f---wits like Piers Morgan declare to millions that ‘Clicky Ponting must be the biggest cheat in cricket history’, all proportionality is lost, and we feel a brotherly obligation to support the club in that context.
“Practically speaking, we have also emailed the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League to propose the creation of a “Penguin Fund” to assist in the recruitment and development of umpires.
“Finally, ahead of Australia’s timely return to Cape Town, we refer all media to this article from 2007.”
“This article” is a link is to a 2007 piece in The Guardian reporting on England cricket boss Rob Key, then the Kent captain, admitting to using sandpaper on the ball during a friendly against Nottinghamshire.
Devine, a financial manager, is the company secretary and a director of Northallerton Auctions Limited, a company that runs livestock markets.
According to his company profile, Devine has a “strong background in financial management built up from a wealth of industry sectors”. His profile also urges those in the area to “pop in and introduce yourself”.
He may no longer want visitors at his workplace after being accused of clicking his fingers in the aim of duping the umpire into giving batters out caught behind during a second XI match on Saturday for the Saltburn Cricket Club against Norton.
Footage has emerged of incidents from numerous games involving Devine where he allegedly adopts the ploy at the expense of bemused batters in division two of the North Yorkshire & South Durham Cricket League.
Morgan, who has been scathing of Australia’s cricketers for stumping Jonny Bairstow at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes, posted twice on X slamming Devine.
“Outrageous cheating, and just the tip of the iceberg from all that’s come out since it was exposed. Clicky Ponting (as he is now known) and various teammates at Saltburn CC, have clearly been at this shameful scam for years. Imagine doing this in local amateur cricket? Pathetic,” Morgan wrote.
Steyn labelled Devine a “click clown”.
The NYSD Premier Cricket League announced on Monday night (UK time) it had launched a full investigation into the scandal but no findings or further comment had been issued at the time of publication.
This masthead has attempted to contact the league, Saltburn Cricket Club and Devine.
Such is the interest in the bizarre case, cricket enthusiasts have gone as far as compiling a statistical breakdown of the number of catches taken by Saltburn second-XI wicketkeepers in matches Devine played compared to those he missed.
The results, compiled by the @maxtempers X account, revealed the wicketkeeper had claimed 39 catches in 13 matches with Devine compared to five in seven without.
Devine’s mother-in-law has defended the beleaguered club cricketer, whose alleged sharp practice in a game likely watched by only a few onlookers has now gone global, describing him as a “man of integrity”.
“It was only a little village cricket match and now it’s become this thing that’s all over the news and social media,” Georgine Vaughan told the Daily Mail.
“It has got totally out of hand and there is nothing that any of us want to say.”
But Devine is under fire from the owner of an Indian restaurant, Spices, in Saltburn that has withdrawn their sponsorship of him. The deal was worth about $1905 plus restaurant discounts, the Daily Mail reported.
“I’m a huge cricket fan and what’s happened is very bad. It’s not in the spirit of this gentleman’s game,” restaurant owner Akmol Hussain said.
“It’s not what I expect from Brian, or the club and I want nothing to do with them from now. I love cricket and even used to play for fun but I’m too old now.
“I’m very shocked and disgusted by this video and can’t believe that Brian would do something like this. I’ve met him many times, but he has damaged the reputation of cricket and my restaurant.”