TV star who plays in same division as ‘Clicky Ponting’ lifts lid on insane cheating scandal

There’s a first time for everything.

Unfortunately for some players who compete in the second division of the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League, they endured a career-first they won’t forget in a hurry.

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They fell victim to a cunning ploy from a Saltburn Cricket Club player, who is alleged to have clicked his fingers as the ball passes their bat in an attempt to deceive the umpire.

Footage of the player allegedly conducting the act in the slips, which has earned him the nickname ‘Clicky Ponting’ in recognition of the Australian legend, has since gone viral and attracted worldwide attention.

Yet according to former Traitors star Faraaz Noor, it’s not the first time the player has successfully conned the umpire.

‘Clicky Ponting’ has been doing it all year

Noor, who competes in the same division, even revealed on ‘Howzat for a Pod’ that a player from rival club Norton, who faced Saltburn last Saturday, came up to him knowing that he’d been ‘clicked out’.

“Truthfully, it’s off it,” Noor said.

“On the Saturday, I was watching a game and one of the lads who was in the Norton game came over and was like, ‘That’s the first time I’ve been clicked out.’

“We were like, ‘What?’ He showed us the video, showed us the clear gap between bat and pad and then showed him clicking. We were like, ‘This is mental.’

“That night, we’ve seen it on Facebook all over. The comments were going absolutely crazy, saying he’s cheating 15, 16-year-old’s out of the game.

“There’s so much evidence on Frogbox where he’s done it. It’s not a one-off thing, he’s been doing it all year.

“They’re (Saltburn) top of the league and the keeper’s taken 34 catches.”

Howzat for a Pod

Since footage of ‘Clicky Ponting’ emerged, the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League confirmed they had launched an investigation.

There has been plenty of heated reaction from fellow players and cricket fans on social media, with Piers Morgan labelling the player as ‘the biggest cheat in cricket history.’

The camera captures everything

For Noor, he simply couldn’t wrap his head around how ‘Clicky Ponting’ thought he could get away with the act given the matches are all captured on film, something which came back to bite.

“That’s the thing, it’s the audacity,” Noor said.

“He knows the games are getting streamed and just to do it anyway, to think that no-one’s going to notice, that was the mental thing.

“On the Facebook post, all the comments are filled with different scenarios of when he’s done it and even scenarios where he’s done it and there’s been decisions not given out. He clearly does it a lot throughout the season.

“I just can’t get my head around it, how that’s even a thought in your mind.”