On the second day of the third Test in Adelaide, Ashes rivals England and Australia were left disappointed as the reliability of Snickometer technology was once again in the spotlight.
Australia were convinced that Jamie Smith had come off his glove in the 16th innings, but Snicko’s verdict sided with the England batsmen, holding that the ball only hit the helmet. There were also questions about the slip catch that almost hit the ground, but that was not the reason for the not-out decision.
Pace bowler Mitchell Starc could be heard giving a chilling assessment into the stump microphone: “Snikko should be sacked. That’s the worst technique in the world. They made a mistake the other day and they’re going to make a mistake again today.”
Adelaide Oval’s big screen shows replays of Jamie Smith’s red card being overturned.
Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins express frustration after Jamie Smith’s sending off decision is overturned by third official
Marnus Labuschagne also downplayed the concussion tests that Smith had to undergo, clearly doubting that he had suffered a helmet impact.
Moments later, Smith was caught behind pulling Pat Cummins, and the chaos continued. Australia were confident of signing Smith and appeared to think he was innocent, but umpire Nitin Menon, unable to make his own decision, signaled for a television review, only adding to the uncertainty.
A replay of Jamie Smith being called out by the third umpire is shown on a large screen at Adelaide Oval.
Smith was then sent off despite another synchronization issue that resulted in a spike one frame early. He threw his arms up in surprise, and ex-England spinner Graham Swann was also furious.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m whining, but it seems like this is one rule for some and one rule for others. It’s nonsense to throw out Snikko,” he said on TNT Sports.
England’s Jamie Smith questioned second day’s sending off decision in Adelaide
“Everyone has completely lost faith in Snikko.”
Sky Sports Nasser Hussein:
“Today was a travesty. Everyone here has lost faith in Snikko.
“I could hear some of the Australian players on the stump mics saying, “This is a joke, it’s a terrible system.” The crowd leaving here and the people watching at home have completely lost faith in the system.”
“And that leads you into dangerous territory, because everyone starts guessing. The third umpire starts guessing and trying to figure out when the sound went off and when the ball went past the bat.”
“Cricket in general has set the tone for how technology is used in the sport. It’s not like VAR, which has been highly controversial, but cricket and the DRS system has worked. But it hasn’t worked in this series.
“By the way, that’s not me being a grumpy pom. England aren’t 2-0 down, they just had another bad day because of Snicko.”
Explaining the first day of the Snikko controversy
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Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton reflect on the incident during the third Ashes Test. Australia’s Alex Carey survived a controversial ‘not out’ decision that appeared to clip England’s Josh Tan.
DRS technology, designed to assist umpires on the edge based on audio output from stump microphones, came under fire on the opening day when Australia’s Alex Carey was given an unfair reprieve.
He hit the ball at No. 72, but was saved because an operator error created an unreliable sound wave and there was a noticeable gap between the noise and the ball passing through the bat. Australia scored another 76 and Carey was eventually dismissed for a century.
England have referred the matter to referee Geoff Crowe, formally reinstating the lost referee and essentially admitting that they were unfair.
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England bowling coach David Saker has admitted there were “concerns” about snicko technique during the Ashes following Alex Carey’s incorrect not-out decision due to operator error in Adelaide.
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Alex Carey has given a cheeky response if he was a ‘pedestrian’ after being asked to sit out during the controversial third Ashes Test
BBG Sports, which owns Snikko, accepted responsibility for the mistake. The company acknowledged that the audio was incorrectly captured from the bowler’s stump microphone, resulting in a delay that caused the audio spikes to be significantly out of sync with the image.
“Given Alex Carey’s admission that he hit the ball in question, the only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that Snicco’s operators at the time must have chosen the wrong stump microphone for audio processing,” BBG Sports said.
Your opinion:
George B: Snikko was pretty bad in the Test, but that won’t be the reason England (probably) lose. His inability to stand at bat and withstand pressure will likely be the reason for his loss.
Lucy: All this chit-chat about Snikko. First, let’s fire the batter. Their performance was probably worse than Snikko.
Steveiwbev0890: The problem isn’t Snicko’s technology…the people running Snicko had mares. This is like VAR. Technology is great, but the people using it aren’t fit for purpose.
Causley Wolfe: It’s not Snicko that we should blame. Lack of preparation and overconfidence that England were better than the not-so-poor Australian team. I feel sorry for everyone who went to great lengths to see this farce.
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