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When a cricket team in North Yorkshire became the centre of a cheating scandal that made headlines around the world, it made many think – is this a very British form of cheating?
Cricket in England is regarded as a genteel sport, so allegations of cheating tend to reverberate. A video of Saturday’s game between Saltburn second XI and Norton second XI has been viewed more than 7m times after viewers spotted a fielder clicking his fingers as the batter swings for the ball. The fielder has been accused of trying to use the clicking noise to trick the umpire into thinking the ball clipped the edge of the bat before being caught.
The scandal has become known as “Clickgate” and the fielder “Clicky Ponting”, though his real name is Brian. The nickname is a play on Ricky Ponting, a former Australian cricket captain who is not otherwise connected to the scandal.
There have been a few cheating scandals in middle England that have captured the national interest. Perhaps the most famous was when the former British army major Charles Ingram was accused of cheating his way to the jackpot on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? by conspiring with his wife and another contestant, who seemed to cough when the correct answer was mentioned. He maintained his innocence.
The UK has long prized the ideal of “fair play” and sportsmanship, but many quintessentially British pastimes have become fertile ground for cheating scandals. There have been spates of complaints about cheating in amateur golf. In one survey of more than 3,250 golfers, more than 40% reported that there were “known cheats” at their club and another poll revealed 94% of respondents had witnessed deliberate rule-breaking on the course.
Even the pleasant playground game of conkers has not been safe from accusations of cheating. David Jakins won the annual title in Southwick, Northamptonshire, in 2024 for the first time after competing since 1977. But the 82-year-old was found to have a metal replica in his pocket when he was searched by organisers after his victory. His opponent said his conker had “disintegrated in one hit” from the alleged steel conker. Jakins was later cleared after an investigation by the organisers.
Giant vegetable-growing competitions have also faced cheating allegations, with complaints that growers have passed off shop-bought fruit as their own and engaged in a scandalous practice of injecting vegetables with water to increase their weight. Organisers have brought in water-detecting machines to stamp this out. Some growers have been accused of using paint to cover up mouldy parts of their vegetables.
Some runners with implausibly good times in marathons have been accused of cutting corners. In 2011, Rob Sloan, a member of the Sunderland Harriers athletics club, came third in the Kielder Marathon but was stripped of the title over a claim he had travelled part of the way by bus. He claimed he did not cheat, but the event organiser Northumbrian Water said he had admitted failing to complete the course and apologised.
In 2014, the organisers of the London Marathon launched an investigation into one runner accused of cutting 10 miles (16km) off the route by jumping over a barrier. His time in the latter stretches was logged as being quicker than the Olympic champion Mo Farah.
But are British people more likely to cheat? “Some people do cheat more than others – young people, for instance,” said the social scientist David Hugh-Jones, “and it’s also true that in incentivised experiments, we often find national variation in levels of dishonesty. Britain and other Northern European/Protestant countries often score relatively well on those tests, which of course makes this news all the more shocking.
“People often cheat or violate norms because they think other people will do the same. So perhaps this is a sad reflection on declining standards in the gentleman’s game.”
Norms of fair play and honesty may be becoming eroded because of certain politicians who believe rules do not apply to them, said David Shepherd, a senior lecturer in economic crime at the University of Portsmouth.
“World leaders lie and cheat and they’re admired for it,” said Shepherd. “LinkedIn is stuffed full of look-at-me exaggerations and downright lies. It teaches us that this is the efficient way to get on. Social media influencers lie. They teach us it is something to aspire to. AI is making cheating even more efficient.”
The recent World Cup could have spread the idea that cheating is legitimate. Shepherd said: “Footballers openly cheat. They drop like they’re shot and magically spring back up once the penalty is awarded.”
There is one way that sports teams could avoid cheating scandals, he said: “But here’s a thing. Women are more honest than men. Ergo, if the cricket teams included men and women, there would be less cheating.”
