An amateur cricket match in County Durham has attracted worldwide attention after footage emerged appearing to show a fielder clicking his fingers to trick the umpire into believing a batter had edged the ball. The North Yorkshire and South Durham Cricket League has launched a formal investigation into the second XI Division 2 fixture between Saltburn and Norton, after receiving a complaint about the incident, which resulted in batter Noman Shabir being given out caught behind.

The viral clip shows the finger-click coinciding with the ball passing Shabir's bat before wicketkeeper Josh Bowes completed the catch and Saltburn successfully appealed; the video has since been viewed more than three million times on X and picked up by media in Australia and New Zealand. Saltburn went on to win the match by 159 runs and lead Division 2 by 17 points, while Bowes, who took eight catches in a separate game last week, tops the league's catching charts with 31. A separate allegation of further cheating by Saltburn has also been raised by another team's captain, though the league says no further comment will be made until its investigation concludes; Norton declined to comment and the BBC has contacted both the league and Saltburn.