‘Clicky Ponting’ saga proves that it is just not cricket
· Citizen
The screaming tabloids in the UK are absolutely loving the story about the club cricketer supposedly caught cheating by clicking his fingers to simulate a batsman getting an edge or a nick, and then getting caught behind. They’ve gagged on their clever headlines, too.
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“Clicky Ponting” quickly became the nickname for Saltburn’s first slip fielder, one Brian Devine, who was the man identified in the video.
Apparently, he’s been at it for a while, because the team has racked up more than 30 “caught behind” catches this season and an amazing eight in one innings… where the elite record is said to be just seven.
I suppose it was Devine Intervention, indeed… and the Daily Mail can have that one for free.
The next turn in the saga was one of outrage – that “the media” (there’s that term again… for every whinger who needs someone to blame) had been hounding poor Brian and making his life a misery.
British hacks have a way of going for the jugular and the Daily Mail went as far as contacting his relatives… which many said was “going too far” because Brian had “just made a mistake”.
That, to quote a Youtuber I watch, is like saying: “Your wife was walking past and I slipped and fell into her vagina…”
It’s not only Brian who’s culpable here: Any cricket fan will tell you that this sort of serial cheating could only have happened with the knowledge of the bowler, wicketkeeper, probably other fielders and possibly even the captain.
Saltburn issued a statement, seeming a bit wounded that it was being subjected to such a spotlight, but at the same time saying the club would investigate and that Devine had been suspended. Apology? No, mate…
This is funny in a way – especially because it goes to the heart of the saying “that’s just not cricket” in the heart of the game the English themselves invented – but also raises a far more serious question of morality in sport and in broader society.
With the distasteful displays of the Argentina team at the World Cup still fresh in the memory, there was a social media chat (before Clicky Ponting emerged from the covers – haha) about honest German footballer Miroslav Klose, who once confessed to scoring a goal with his hand.
In a September 2012 match between Lazio and Napoli in Italy’s Serie, Klose nudged the ball into the net with his hand and after the referee initially allowed the goal, Klose told the official it hit his hand.
The referee cancelled the goal and Klose later received a fair play prize for his honesty. In 2005, while playing for Werder Bremen, he asked the referee to revoke a penalty incorrectly awarded to him.
That makes him stand out like a sore thumb in the footie world, where the balletic diving and acting remind one more of Swan Lake than any real nutcracker…
Should we be upset at Devine, though? If you believe in the “broken windows” principle, then yes, we should.
If we tolerate minor offences, we create the atmosphere for bigger ones.
That was the motivation, supposedly, of New York City police commissioner William Bratton in the 1980s when, as he cracked down on petty crime, major offences also dropped like a stone.
Wrong is wrong, surely, and should not be excused by its scale.
It’s as wrong to park in a disabled bay as it is to fake your student loan application to National Student Financial Aid Scheme, or to loot billions from a government hospital budget.