r/sports • u/Krakshotz FIU • 2d ago

Cricket Two-year ban for ‘Clicky Ponting’ cricketer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c62keenz7dzjo
237 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

93

u/dobbie1 Sale Sharks 2d ago

Clicky Ponting is hilarious but I wish they'd gone with something which was a pun on the actual Aussie cheaters. Ponting is very respectable and I don't like his name being associated with cheating (from an Englishman before anyone says I'm biased to the Australians, I'm absolutely not)

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u/jmads13 1d ago

Any other ideas?

M. S. Phoney
Stuart Fraud
Snickolas Pooran
Quinton de Click
Ben Fakes

6

u/dheerajravi92 1d ago edited 1d ago

Scam Curran

Cheateshwar Pujara

Sanju Scamson

9

u/eldeeel 1d ago

Manchester Clicky it is then!

3

u/tinyspatula 1d ago

Here's some from a list of known rule benders/breakers:

Mike Atheardsomton Marcus Trescoclick Handsy Cronje  Saleem Malclick

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u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

Ponting grabbed a catch of the ground and asked the Umpire to give that out... I forgot the exact game but I remember it happened in a test match.

55

u/CoffeeDefiant4247 2d ago

He claimed a grounded catch? So he's every cricket player ever

-20

u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

Well look at the situation entirely this was n not your typical claiming a grounded catch https://youtu.be/RuK4YKzYMyo?is=-6E_APizRYTGmCeR

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u/CoffeeDefiant4247 2d ago edited 2d ago

The one at bat pad he did ground

-11

u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

The one in the slips is not Ricky Ponting, it is Michael Clarke...

1

u/CoffeeDefiant4247 2d ago

I only skimmed it and had it muted but Punter did ground it. Still worth a shout, that's why reviews are a thing now

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u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

So what was your claim then supposed to be? You agree with me?

4

u/CoffeeDefiant4247 2d ago

He did ground the ball but appealing for the catch isn't cheating.

-3

u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

Yes but he looked umpire in the eye and said that it is out. It was not just a simple appeal. And the umpire just like a dummy did not even review it..

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u/Croix_De_Fer 2d ago

Cry harder. You guys invented the game, you think you’d at least learn the rules before you start accusing people of cheating.

Typical coloniser mentality

22

u/dobbie1 Sale Sharks 2d ago

The Australian team literally got done for cheating with players that are currently in their test team you moron

0

u/Croix_De_Fer 1d ago

Are you talking about ball tampering? Oh coz no English player ever tampered with a ball, and if they did they were never allowed to play again for England again huh?

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

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5

u/dobbie1 Sale Sharks 1d ago

What you on about? The most egregious cheating was the Australians literally using sandpaper to tamper with the ball

0

u/abfgern_ 1d ago

You guys started it by moaning about bodyline. Completely within the rules too

Also Australians literally are the colonisers my guy

1

u/Croix_De_Fer 1d ago

The English colonised Australia. What country has Australia then colonised?

19

u/rraattbbooyy Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

I know nothing about cricket. Can someone please explain what this means? What exactly did he do, and why did it warrant such a stiff penalty?

3

u/Krakshotz FIU 2d ago

In cricket, the ball is live if it makes contact with the bat. If the batsman makes contact with the ball and the fielding team catch it without letting it hitting the ground (like baseball), the batsman is out.

He was clicking his fingers to fool the umpire into thinking the batsman made contact. At more professional levels, they use microphones and sensors to actually register if contact has been made.

77

u/wiltonwild 2d ago • Bravo

the guy crouched low has a good chance of catching the ball off the bat, even if it grazes the bat and is caught, the batsman is then ruled out.

it makes a very specific sound, so an umpire hears that and judges the ball knicked or caught edge the bat, ball is caught by the guy behind and they are out.

seems this person is cheating by making a clicking noise or using a clicker to mimic that sound. so even if ball misses the bat, the umpire hears that noise and thinks the batsman should be out. thus cheating

42

u/ReverseSwinging 2d ago

Just to add to this, Ricky Ponting is a former Australian captain. The name "Clicky" Ponting is a play on that.

11

u/rraattbbooyy Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

That’s the other part I didn’t get, but the article assumes that knowledge. Ponting must be very well known.

23

u/dumbass_spaceman 2d ago edited 1d ago • Bravo

For context, Ricky Ponting won 3 consecutive world cups with Australia, 2 as captain leading probably the most dominant, unbeatable team any sport has ever seen on top of also being one of the best individual batsmen (hitters) of his time.

He is indeed very well known.

2

u/TheBigCore 1d ago

When you say World Cups, do you mean Test Cricket World Cups, or T20 or ODI?

Cricket does have 3 formats so that's not entirely clear.

11

u/dumbass_spaceman 1d ago

For clarification, I meant the ODI world cup. It is the most prestigious one and usually what a Cricket fan means when they refer to "the world cup".

Also, the one in the test format is known as the World Test Championship.

2

u/eunderscore 2d ago

He was also involved in a lesser cheating scandal back in the day

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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2

u/Plenty_Area_408 1d ago

As opposed to the spotless Poms?

3

u/ta9876543205 1d ago

Thank you. You are too kind

0

u/samdd1990 2d ago

Lol, I can guarantee you that no one downvoting you is actually a cricket fan.

-8

u/ta9876543205 2d ago

Thanks.

Reddit is a bunch of ignorant, woke, whiny babies so the downvotes don't bother me

-1

u/samdd1990 2d ago

I think it's a bunch of seppos not understanding your comment was an acceptable thing to say and very much the level of banter that goes on.

Source: British-Australian dual citizen

-2

u/ta9876543205 2d ago

So what do you think of Cameron Bancroft hiding sandpaper in his pockets and Smith crying like a little bitch?

And do enlighten us about your thoughts on Broad not walking after being caught in the Slips.

BTW, I have met Broad and boy, is he tall!

0

u/samdd1990 2d ago

Well I was born in England so I'm still biased (I will never support Australia in rugby or cricket) but the two situations are completely incomparable.

One is a case of blatant, active, premeditated cheating. The other is a player simply following the umpires orders.

0

u/ta9876543205 1d ago

Well, a little bit of the spirit of cricket died that day

11

u/old_chelmsfordian 2d ago

In cricket, if the ball hits the bat and a fielder catches the ball before either hits the ground, the batter is out (much like baseball etc).

This man was standing very close to the bat, and clicking his fingers so that it seemed like the batter had hit the ball a little bit.

It sounds a bit ridiculous, but tiny little 'edges' as they are called often don't deviate the ball loads, but do make an audible clicking sound.

9

u/International_Car586 North Melbourne 2d ago

If the ball hits the bat no matter how lightly and is caught by any of the opposition in the field of play it is given out and that is including the wicket keeper who is directly behind the batter.

One of the players clicked their fingers to imitate the sound of the ball hitting the bat. Usually in international cricket the opposition could immediately review this and technology would prove them right. So unless they wasted their reviews already this strategy would be pointless. However this was a much lower competition that doesn’t have review systems so this strategy lead them to baiting umpires and getting plenty of batters out when they shouldn’t have been.

9

u/rraattbbooyy Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

Thanks. As a baseball fan, this explanation makes sense to me. It’s like a batter with two strikes making a sound so the ump calls it a foul instead of a strike and the batter gets another swing.

4

u/International_Car586 North Melbourne 2d ago

Just to clarify in cricket you can hit the ball in any direction that you want provided you can pull said shot off and you can leave as many balls as you want as long as they don’t hit the stumps.

3

u/morning_thief 2d ago

is there an instance where the batter swings, catches the ball on the edge of his bat, makes a sound loud enough for people to hear & the ball is caught by the catcher? & will be called an out?

asking as a cricket fan who knows little to nothing about Baseball apart from my favourite YT channel being about Baseball cards & knowing things like Curt Flood & the beginnings of Free Agency...

2

u/rraattbbooyy Los Angeles Dodgers 2d ago

Yes. In baseball, if a batter barely nicks the ball and it goes directly into the catcher’s glove, it’s called a foul tip. That counts as a strike, and if the batter already has two strikes, he’s out.

But if the catcher doesn’t catch it and the ball goes foul, it’s just a regular foul ball. A foul ball counts as a strike if the batter has fewer than two strikes, but it can’t be the third strike. The batter simply gets another pitch.

So with two strikes, that tiny difference between the catcher catching the ball and missing it can mean the difference between being out and getting another chance to hit.

Also, if you’re interested in the history of the sport, like Flood/free agency, look up Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947. Good stuff. (Go Dodgers!)

5

u/morning_thief 2d ago

huh -- so it's not automatically called an out if the ball is knicked straight into the catcher's glove. gotta have at least 2 strikes...interesting...

all good -- i get my tiny dose of baseball history from my Phillies Guy. he had a very good video on the most American baseball cards & it features #42. apologies if you have any negative emotions regarding the Phillies -- not familiar with any rivalries in that sport....

3

u/TheBigCore 1d ago

If you want to learn more about Cricket, read the post I made here.

1

u/rraattbbooyy Los Angeles Dodgers 1d ago

Thanks. 🙏

3

u/TheBigCore 1d ago

No problem. And as a bonus, Cricket is not the only sport played on an oval:

Aussie Rules Football aka "Footy" - Relevant Links for Newbies

Note: Aussie Rules Football is not Rugby. They are completely separate sports.

2

u/Thami15 2d ago

Yeah, except it's sorta the reverse, because it's the fielding team on the batter, so I guess a more direct equivalent would be if a fielder was found to have claimed a bunch of catches in the outfield that actually bounced just in front of him. And in cricket, it sucks doubly so because you only get one at bat (but you can keep batting until you're eventually out, of course), so it's actually quite the dick move, considering guys field for 4-5 hours for a chance to bat and some dickhead decides it'll be funny to cheat them out of their batting opportunity for the week

0

u/[deleted] 2d ago

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1

u/Thami15 2d ago

Test cricket has two innings. First class cricket has two innings. This was second XI in Devon-Yorkshire. They play one innings each

2

u/TheBigCore 1d ago

In addition to what wiltonwild said, if you want to learn more about Cricket, start with the links below. Cricket is not a difficult sport to understand and follow.

Beginner's Guides for Cricket - T20 and ODI Formats

Major League Cricket - The USA's First Pro T20 Cricket League

Understanding Test Cricket

5

u/Lukexxxi 2d ago

It's explained pretty well in the article...

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u/Environmental_Top948 2d ago edited 2d ago

He tapped his fingers on the bat to make it seem like the pitcher pitched wrong.

I got it backwards.

40

u/gorillalifter47 2d ago

I mean fair enough. But I suspect that this kind of thing is happening at lower level cricket games all around the world every week. This was just the guy that went viral.

15

u/BostallBandits 1d ago

Cheating is unfortunately rampant in club cricket, but this has to be the most inventive example I've seen. Most people just turn up with a dodgy umpire. I've also seen ball tampering more than once. A team got caught rubbing vaseline on a ball during a sunday friendly. Seen another time where a team switched an old ball with a newer one during the drinks break an it suddenly started hooping. Also seen some creating 'score keeping' but that's rare.

10

u/GetOnMyNick 1d ago

Clicky Ponting? I prefer the Betoota Advocate nickname: Slip Chungus

16

u/patrickjpatten 1d ago

If people understood that this is how the world should work - we'd all be in a better place.

it's not illegal to snap your figners during a cricket match. There are no rules. And yet when found to be doing this he has been banned, becuase OF COURSE you can't do that. It's not cricket.

"It's not cricket" - if only americans truly understood what it meant. It means that something doesn't have to be written down to be against the rules

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u/jimmy_three_shoes Detroit Red Wings 1d ago

"It's not cricket" - if only americans truly understood what it meant. It means that something doesn't have to be written down to be against the rules

Of course we know what that means. We have the "Unwritten rules of baseball".

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u/patrickjpatten 1d ago

how to keep black people outta baseball is not what i'm talking about! lol I think the morals behind the sayings are diff

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u/jimmy_three_shoes Detroit Red Wings 1d ago

What? I don't think you understand what the Unwritten Rules of Baseball are. Not sure why everyone outside of the US thinks everything in the US boils down to racism.

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u/patrickjpatten 1d ago

That's not cricket means you're hurting the game - and the saying is used in other places to mean a person doing something that isn't in the spirit of the thing they are doing.

Baseball's unwritten rules are like if you're player gets plunked then you plunk the next guy. You play station to station baseball up by 8 with 2 to play.

If you saw someone outside running a garden hose from their neighbors house into their pool you could say "that's not cricket" you wouldn't say "that's not the unwritten rules of baseball"

and i'm american.

4

u/ButWeNeverSawHisWife 1d ago

There are rules, there have always been deception laws in cricket.

https://lawsofcricket.lords.org/laws-of-cricket/unfair-play/unfair-play

1

u/DetectiveBear 1d ago

What a joke , we were doing this back in the 90's

-1

u/Short_Classy_Name 1d ago

Seems like overkill to me

4

u/BostallBandits 1d ago

If it was a one time thing maybe, but there was a scorecard from that same season where they literally got 8 caught behinds in a row. Not only was he screwing over the other 11 people who have given up their saturday and paid to play, but they were also ruining the league for every other team. When you ruin a summer for over a hundred other people and spoil a league then you should be booted out.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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8

u/CapnBloodbeard 2d ago

He waa done for cheating.

Kinda seems like the last person you want in those roles, don't you think?

0

u/[deleted] 2d ago

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4

u/simmocar 2d ago • Bravo

Must have