Why finger-clicking 'scandal' has gripped sporting world - Agnew

Image source, Saltburn CCImage caption, A video of a wicket during Saltburn's win over Norton in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has gone viral for an alleged incident of cheating

I've had countless messages today from people who are intrigued by the whole thing. Many are from people who don't usually message me about cricket.

It's a perfect social media story which does the rounds very quickly and people quickly reach their own opinion.

At the centre of it all is the suggestion a second XI player from Saltburn Cricket Club, Brian Devine, clicked his fingers the moment the ball passed the bat of an opponent, thus making it sound like the ball had hit the edge.

Cricket scandal stories always grab people's attention and this one is the sort of incident in which people who are not interested in cricket can get involved – did he click his fingers or did he not? Could the umpire hear it or could he not?

It's one of those simple things that anybody can engage with. It's not as complicated as assessing whether a footballer has dived – this is a cut and dried thing that anybody can enter a debate into.

People seem to enjoy a Spirit of Cricket debate - it's part of the fabric of the game and almost unique to the sport.

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Devine, who has been suspended by his club,, external must have a proper hearing and tell his side of the story. People have come to conclusions very quickly and maybe they're right but until there's been a proper investigation, it's difficult to pass judgement.

For me, the wicketkeeper, Josh Bowes, is the person who will ultimately know what happened. Unless Devine confesses to anything, the wicketkeeper is the star witness for the prosecution and the defence. It's up to him to be honest.

Bearing in mind all of us are reaching judgements from some pretty grainy video, if Devine is seriously managing to click his fingers so loudly the umpire can hear it outside, with everything else that is going on, then he clearly has to be punished.

Anybody who is caught cheating in any sport takes that risk. They take the risk of being exposed as a cheat and they'll be punished as a cheat.

Then there's the decision to be made about the team itself and whether other people knew about it and were part of it.

But that can only happen after there has been a proper hearing and proper process.

Let's be frank though, these things do happen in cricket - people are always pushing to try and gain an advantage. The only sport I am aware of where it doesn't happen, and I'd happily stand corrected here, is golf, because of its self-policing nature.

Whenever you have an umpire or referee to try and con as a player, then this sort of thing goes on.

In my playing days, I remember standing at first slip in a county match when West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts was playing for us [Leicestershire].

The wicketkeeper at the time, who I won't name, ran on the spot very loudly in a distracting fashion as the bowler was running in. After he did it a couple of times, the batsman turned round and told him in no uncertain terms if he did it again, he would do something rather uncomfortable with his cricket bat.

We've had ball-tampering scandals – all of these things – and they all fall under the same bracket of foul play and bringing the game into disrepute.

What I would say is the whole Spirit of Cricket question is an incredibly difficult path to tread. These things happen and everybody has different views.

It starts with everybody having a different perspective or interpretation of the Spirit of Cricket and very few people agree on that. Then it kicks off from there. It's extraordinarily difficult to get a consensus on these things.

But it goes on everywhere, all around the world. I know it's been a big story in Australia too but I've played grade cricket in Australia and I think I'm pretty experienced in knowing how Australians play their grade cricket.

Their league cricket is utterly uncompromising, it's ruthless and I've certainly seen evidence of sharp practice in the two or three seasons I played there.

It's not the first incident and it won't be the last. What's important now is that we get a full and fair investigation.

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