‘Snicko needs to be sacked’: Ashes combatants lose faith in tech after more DRS dramas

Gaffaney gave Smith out based on a Snicko spike, but with a gap between frames it was unclear how closely the ball had actually passed the bat. Smith was clearly upset with the decision, and Ben Stokes bowed his head.

“There is a gap between frames, which has been spoken about a lot,” former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said on Seven. “If you watch that again, you’ll see the vision here… that is in between frames.

“In between one frame, and then you don’t see where the ball passes past the bottom of the bat because it is one frame before, and the next one you see is one frame after. It doesn’t capture the bit in the middle.”

Snicko technology provider Warren Brennan, of BBG Sports, said both decisions included correct use of the system by both the operators and the umpires.

Both teams moved to downplay the furore around Snicko’s use after stumps. Australian veteran Nathan Lyon dismissed one question on the incidents with, “I’m not going to comment on DRS”, and a second with a shake of the head. England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick said the technology had to be as “consistent as possible” rather than discontinued.

Earlier, Ponting said umpires privately believe they “can’t trust” the DRS technology used in Australia, while Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg sought answers about the operator error that cost England on day one.

England coach Brendon McCullum and team management sought out ICC match referee Jeff Crowe after Carey conceded he thought he had feathered a caught-behind appeal when on 72, only for Snicko’s verdict to hand him a reprieve.

BBG Sports subsequently took “full responsibility” for an operator putting up the sound on the stump microphone at the bowler’s end, instead of Carey’s end, hence the big spike appeared.

While Carey may still have edged the delivery, the wrong graphic was shown, which was the reason why it was out of sync.

Ponting and Greenberg both expressed dismay at the error, with Ponting withering in his criticism, claiming that Snicko technology is inferior to the UltraEdge product used in England.

“This technology that we are using here [in Australia] is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries,” Ponting said on Seven. “You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.

“They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s got to make decisions based on what he’s seeing that the technology is providing, and sometimes they have a gut feel that it’s not right.

“That can’t happen. You’ve got to be able to trust the technology that’s in place.”

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Carey’s DRS reprieve followed a similar drama around English counterpart Smith’s first Test dismissal in Perth, where the visiting keeper was given out caught behind despite replay frames not matching up with the Snicko audio panel.

Under its most recent broadcast deal with Sky, the ECB agreed to help pay the cost of using industry-leading technology operators Hawk-Eye and UltraEdge to ensure that match officials have access to the best-available aids for decision-making.

That decision followed queries from Sky about the cost of these aids. Broadcasters have increasingly looked to keep operating costs down, while governing bodies have a responsibility to help umpires be as accurate as possible in their adjudication.

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Greenberg acknowledged as much before play on day two after the DRS drama “caused me some heartburn” the previous evening.

“I wouldn’t say we’re very hands-on because, ultimately, these are providers that are licensed by the ICC,” Greenberg told SEN Cricket.

“The broadcasters then engage that supplier. But the short answer is: we’re not happy with it.

“We don’t think it’s good enough, and we definitely think we need to be assured that it won’t happen again. So we’re asking the right questions of the right people.

“From what I can understand, having dug into it a little bit … there’s two human errors. One is the actual decision from the umpire, and then there’s supposed to be a fail-safe with the technology. That didn’t happen. In my view, that’s not good enough.”