The Spin | Clicky Ponting, viral catches, and strange new era of amateur cricket streams

Livestreaming services such as FrogBox give grassroots players their big moments for posterity, but Saltburn saga shows how digital age brings tricky double edge

“Monday to Friday, people are sharing the content,” says Rob Knee, chief executive of the cricket livestreaming company FrogBox. You can say that again. The story and accompanying footage of Brian Devine’s apparent finger-clicking chicanery at Saltburn Cricket Club went around the world last week. When Piers Morgan and Mike Brearley are wading into the discourse to give you a kicking on social media and a ticking off in the Times, it is probably a sign things have got a bit out of hand.

“We’d much rather see some outstanding catches, centuries and sixes being the cause of those viral moments,” Knee tells The Spin down the phone from Melbourne with the “Clicky Ponting” saga still rumbling. Saltburn CC are one of 1,850 clubs, mainly in the UK and Australia, who have purchased a livestreaming kit from the Australia-based company.

I think cricket has a drinking culture and that has not changed. We are in 2026 now, where the game has gone more professional over the years. But one thing that has just stayed within cricket is its relationship with alcohol, from club cricket it works its way up. It stays there and is embedded within the sport.

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