England will head into day two of the Adelaide Test with both of their reviews intact after officials admitted a Snicko malfunction may have denied them Alex Carey’s wicket on the opening afternoon.
Short version first. Josh Tongue thought he had Carey caught behind for 72, on-field umpire Ahsan Raza said “not out”, and England sent it upstairs. TV umpire Chris Gaffaney stuck with the on-field call because the Real-Time Snickometer (RTS) showed a spike several frames before the ball passed the bat and then fell silent as it went by. “There’s a clear gap, no spike,” Gaffaney ruled.
Only problem: Carey later told reporters he had felt something on the bat. “I had a bit of luck,” he smiled, adding that he is “clearly not” a walker. England’s dressing-room TV feed backed up his hunch – a small mark appeared on the hot-spot replay exactly where bat should meet ball.
Late in the evening the technology supplier, BBG Sports, owned up. It said an operator had “selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing” and accepted “full responsibility for the error”. That admission triggered a clause in the ICC playing conditions allowing the match referee, Jeff Crowe, to reinstate a review when technology fails.
England head coach Brendon McCullum and team manager Wayne Bentley met Crowe after stumps to make sure the process was followed. The ECB also plans to ask the ICC to tighten its quality checks. One insider said the conversation was “cordial but firm”.
Bowling coach David Saker told host broadcasters that the squad has been uneasy about RTS throughout the series. “We shouldn’t be talking about this after a day’s play, it should just be better than that,” he said. “In this day and age, you’d think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”
This is not the first time a review has been restored. The same happened in Chennai in early 2021 when Ajinkya Rahane survived an incorrect Snicko reading. The precedent made Crowe’s call straightforward, though it will not erase the 34 extra runs Carey added on his way to 106 – vital in Australia’s 326 for 8.
For England, the practical outcome is two reviews in the bank when play resumes, rather than one. Whether that eases the frustration is another matter; players tend to remember opportunities missed far longer than process wins achieved.
Australia, meanwhile, shrugged and moved on. Carey’s century keeps them slightly in front, and they still have two wickets to add useful runs in the morning. England will need early strikes to justify their grievances – the best statement a bowler can make after any technological hiccup remains to hit the top of off-stump next time.
