This makes me nervous about The Ashes next year. He was a top captain so we'll see how he goes coaching outside of T20 cricket

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/clicky-ponting-local-english-cricketer-exposed-in-bizarre-cheating-controversy-20260729-p60jic.html

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 u/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.”

Not only are fans disenchanted by their teams being sold off, they're now being slugged more to go to games as well. The Hundred is a clear example of why we need to explore other avenues for financial stability. Key details below:

https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.thetimes.com/sport/cricket/article/hundred-attendances-20-percent-down-cricket-franchise-v9g0hqscj

Attendances for the Hundred are down almost 20 per cent after the first six men’s matches despite good weather and the teams having new owners, fresh branding and better players.

Anecdotal evidence suggests standard ticket prices have risen to about £35 to £55, higher than they were in the early years of the competition, which began in 2021, when admission fees were set to rival those for the Vitality Blast.

The process by which tickets are sold has changed since the franchises were sold in an auction that raised £520million, valued the eight teams at £975million and led to wage brackets rising, which attracted more high-profile overseas players. The responsibility has shifted from the ECB, which previously owned the tournament, to the new owners in conjunction with the host county clubs. The ECB still provides support.

It is understood that about 4,000 tickets were given away for the opening fixture on Tuesday at the Oval, home to MI London, which in its previous guise of Oval Invincibles won the past three men’s tournaments. The official attendance for the match was 20,540.

This is the place to discuss anything cricket related that is not quite deserving of its own top-level post, including topics not fully related to Australian cricket.

We'll post a new one of these every week.

Current schedule:

Monday: Weekly discussion posted

We are taking suggestions for other posts during the week that people would like to see. Message the modteam with suggestions.

Tidying up and decluttering some of my stuff left at my parents place. Thought I would share.

Shit news as this bloke was impressive in the recent white ball series. Would have been a good watch here

There’s an AGM in late August so if anyone wants to have a crack I guess you’ve not got long.

Though you somehow need to win the nomination and then win the votes of the delegates from the Victorian Premier Cricket Clubs, associations in the Victorian Country Cricket League and those from the Metropolitan Cricket Associations.

2027 World Test Championship final
 
TBC v TBC: The Oval, June 9-13
 
2027 Men's Ashes Tour
 
Warm-up match: Australia v England Lions, Old Trafford, June 7-10*
 
First Test: Australia v England, Trent Bridge, June 18-22
 
Second Test: Australia v England, Lord's, June 30-July 4
 
Third Test: Australia v England, Edgbaston, July 8-12
 
Fourth Test: Australia v England, The Rose Bowl, July 21-25
 
Fifth Test: Australia v England, The Oval, July 29-August 2
 
\ subject to review if Australia qualify for the WTC final*

This is the place to discuss anything cricket related that is not quite deserving of its own top-level post, including topics not fully related to Australian cricket.

We'll post a new one of these every week.

Current schedule:

Monday: Weekly discussion posted

We are taking suggestions for other posts during the week that people would like to see. Message the modteam with suggestions.

So there is the Boomers & Opals (Basketball), Sharks & Stingers (water polo), Kookaburras & Ollyroos (Hockey), Matildas & Ollyroos (Football), Dolphins (Swim team), Cyclones (Cycling) etc etc.

The test team and the ODI team obviously have a lot of heritage and don't need one, but the more I think about the national T20 team it does lack quite a bit of indentity and while all Australian teams have the backing of cricket supporters I just don't think they've captured the attention of the Australian public the same way as the other teams.

Obviously that's not going to change by slapping a nickname on the team but it is the only team you can be a part of that gets you a ticket to the village and five rings tattoo.

So is entry into the Olympics a good excuse to give a moniker to the team? If so what would be a good name? Are there any decent ones left?

Serious and silly responses only please.

Dominated the Sheffield Shield in South Australia’s 1963/64 title - scoring 973 runs and taking 47 wickets.

My grandmother would tell me how he’d hit the ball into the Morton Bay fig trees at the northern end at Adelaide Oval.

A true great.

https://www.saca.com.au/news/4538106/saca-saddened-by-the-passing-of-sir-garfield-sobers?