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England and Australia make feelings clear on Snicko as Ashes star calls for ‘sacking’
Need to know
There was more Snicko controversy on the second day of the Third Ashes Test when England batter Jamie Smith was first handed a reprieve before being given out by the controversial technology
Everything you need to know as Snicko controversy continues on day two of the Third Ashes Test between Australia and England…
- The reliability of the Decision Review System (DRS) technology came under heavy fire after multiple controversial calls on the opening days of the Test. Both teams have lost confidence in the “Snicko” system, which uses audio from stump microphones to detect if a ball has hit the bat.
- A major error occurred on day one when Australia’s Alex Carey was wrongly allowed to stay at the crease despite clearly nicking the ball. An operator error caused a syncing issue between the sound and video, leading to an incorrect “not out” decision that cost England dearly.
- Following the Carey incident, match referee Jeff Crowe took the rare step of restoring England’s lost review as a gesture of admission that the technology had failed. However, the reprieve allowed Carey to go on and score a century, adding a significant 76 runs to Australia’s total after the mistake.
- Friction continued on day two when Jamie Smith was involved in two separate reviews that left both sides feeling bewildered. Australia believed they had Smith caught off the glove, but the technology indicated the ball had only struck his helmet.
- Australian pace bowler Mitchell Starc was heard on the stump microphone calling for the technology to be “sacked” after the decision went against his team. He expressed his anger at what he perceived to be back-to-back mistakes by the system over the two days of play.
- The confusion deepened when Smith was eventually given out caught behind, despite the technology again showing a “syncing” spike one frame too early. Smith reacted with visible surprise and frustration, while commentators described the consistency of the technology as “ridiculous.”
- Former England spinner Graeme Swann vented his fury on television, suggesting that the rules seemed to be applied inconsistently between the two teams. He joined the chorus of voices calling for the Snickometer to be discarded entirely, labeling the current system as “nonsense.”
- While the technology providers admitted to a manual error in the initial Alex Carey incident, they have maintained that the decisions regarding Jamie Smith were correct. Despite this, the lack of trust has led to players appealing for almost every delivery in hopes that the technology will falter again.
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