“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 Sunday Times respectively, 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,” says Knee from Melbourne with the “Clicky Ponting” saga still rumbling.
Saltburn are one of 1,850 clubs, mainly in the UK and Australia, who have bought a livestreaming kit from the Australia-based company.
As well as Cricket Australia, Cricket Scotland and Netherlands Cricket, FrogBox partners with the England and Wales Cricket Board. “We have access to their live scoring data, that then powers the on-screen graphics and also allows us to automate highlights.”
Knee says FrogBox is expanding. They have posted more than three million cricket clips online and their kits (RRP £2,380) have sold out this year. They are already taking pre-orders for next season. Clubs have used their footage to secure sponsorships and funding and it is this, and the heartwarming side to livestreaming, Knee is keen to focus on, pointing out that parents can now have their child’s first run or wicket captured. Special moments such as hat-tricks and centuries live on not just in memory, but as a permanent memento.
“When you are streaming over 1,000 games a weekend that is a potential quarter of a million highlights every single week we are capturing. One of our first viral moments was a player whose day job is a taxi driver and he ended up smashing a six into his own cab. Thankfully, the clips that tend to do well are hugely positive.”
Nevertheless, the livestreaming of amateur cricket matches throws up some thorny issues about what constitutes a private and a public space. “We’re the technology provider, but we require the clubs, and we presume it happens, [to make sure] everyone is aware the match is being streamed.
“The cameras have got pretty good audio and it’s [about] making sure people know they can be heard as well. The clubs can make decisions on how public the streams are, so they can also determine them to be unlisted.”
It is hard to shake the prevailing thought that the Saltburn story would slot perfectly into Jon Ronson’s 2015 book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed about the cruelty of social media and its insatiable thirst for a mass puritanical pile-on. The next thought for The Spin was “there but for the grace of God go I”. Who among us can honestly say they haven’t done something soul-crushingly embarrassing or bewilderingly out of character on the field of play, in the heat of the moment?
More widely, isn’t one of the joys of playing cricket the escapism it offers? The eight or so hours where the outside world drifts away, your phone is stuffed in your shoe back in the pavilion and real life can’t get you. Knee laughs as I put this to him, responding that he believes FrogBox adds to this sanctity as it ensures those special individual and team moments that happen on a weekly basis are preserved.
“Of course you get the odd player who gets given out and is immediately ripping off the pads and rewatching their decision, but our founding principles were much more guided by building cricket communities and fan engagement. Certainly that was our angle.
“Other companies come from more of a high performance and analytics world, but ours was always more about connection. That parents, family and friends who can’t be at the game can still feel part of it.
“We also thought about the second and third XIs who don’t always get to watch the first XI play. They train with them, but they never get to see them in action and vice versa. The various sides are then able to consume the other games, watch it from an away ground and so on. That creates a lot more of that kind of special camaraderie at clubs.”
As well as the highs, the lows are captured too. Has Knee played in a FrogBox-streamed game? “I don’t play so much any more, but certainly the local side I play for has FrogBox and I’ve been streamed doing some horrific things, getting out to very poor balls and all that type of stuff. It always gets a decent laugh around the place.”
Professional cricket is being commodified wherever you look. It fits that this bleeds into the amateur game. One thing Knee says lingers long after our conversation. “There is a sort of saying going around, that if it didn’t happen on FrogBox did it even happen?”
As much as Knee can point to how the livestreaming of the amateur game can bring clubs together and capture golden moments for posterity it is hard to shake the sense that as some things are gained, others perhaps are lost.
“Look in the book,” the cricketing adage goes. How long before this is replaced by “Check the streams”? All too soon for Brian Devine.
Not every stream flows freely
Let’s just pause here to say that Devine’s alleged crimes against cricket are not unremarkable – the timing … the noise. The guy could summon a waiter from 100 yards.
The past few years have included a proliferation of amateur cricket content online. A quick peruse of Cricket District and the associated “That’s so Village” social media can’t help but bring a smile to the face, the golden nuggets in what must be thousands upon thousands of hours of footage. The Spin is still not convinced the world needs this and has never felt older.
Of course, the professional game is also a slave to the algorithm these days. A well-known franchise player said he loves it when one of his sixes gets clipped and shared online. Attempts to harness internet eyeballs don’t always go to plan though, as anyone who suffered through the freshly minted Hundred side Sunrisers Leeds’ hastily deleted video of their men’s side struggling with a new victory song – an adapted/mangled version of the Leeds United and Leeds Rhinos anthem Marching on Together. Unfortunately for them, you can still find it.
Stat of the week
The crowds attending this year’s Hundred competition are down by about 18% compared with last year. The private investors insist they aren’t getting twitchy and here’s the ECB to settle any nerves – the governing body claims social media views have risen by 75% in this year’s competition. Every cloud …
Quote of the week
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.
In a two-hour interview on Stuart Broad’s and Jos Buttler’s For The Love Of Cricket podcast, Ben Stokes stated it is English cricket that is rooted in a drinking culture rather than his old team having a booze problem.
Memory lane
10 June 2004, Trent Bridge Stephen Fleming will have seven Tests under his belt as head coach when England line up to take on Australia in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge next summer. Fleming knows the area well. In 2005, he led Nottinghamshire to their first County Championship title since 1987 and a year earlier it was the scene of his second Test century against England, albeit New Zealand lost by four wickets against Michael Vaughan’s side.
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Ali Martin dissects what Ben Stokes did and didn’t say in his podcast appearance.
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