Jamie Smith’s departure on day two of the opening Ashes Test in Perth came down to a single frame on Real-Time Snicko, and it left the ground rumbling.
England’s keeper-batter was 15 when Brendan Doggett cramped him for room with a ball that lifted at the body. On-field umpire Nitin Menon ruled not out, yet Australia’s captain Steven Smith went upstairs after a hurried nod from Travis Head at short leg and wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
The review took a shade over four minutes. A faint wave appeared on the stadium screen, Smith began to trudge off, then paused when the replay slowed and the spike seemed to arrive a touch late. TV umpire Sharfuddoula eventually broke the suspense: “[There is a] spike as the ball has just gone past the bat… My decision… Nitin, you need to change your decision from not out to out. There’s a clear spike as the ball had just passed [the bat].”
Home supporters cheered; the travelling England fans answered with boos and a round of “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”
Former elite umpire Simon Taufel, analysing the moment on Channel 7, felt the technology was handled correctly. “This is the difficulty when we have two types of edge-detection technologies around the world,” he said. “Primarily, we use Hawkeye Ultra-Edge. In Australia, it’s one of the few countries in the world to use Real-Time Snicko.”
Taufel explained that RTS is deemed conclusive if the spike appears within one frame after the ball passes the bat. “It’s very difficult to come into a series with limited experience around how to judge RTS, but the conclusive evidence protocols with RTS [are that] if you get a spike up to one frame past the bat, that is conclusive. And in this particular case, that is exactly what was there,” he added. “For me, the correct decision was made: a spike [on] RTS after one frame past the bat, the batter has got to go.”
Australia great Mark Waugh, on Kayo Sports, wondered whether Smith’s initial walk nudged the verdict. “You’ve got to think if that takes that long to make a decision that there’s got to be some doubt there. But when Smith walked off, I think that’s what convinced the umpire. I think that’s the longest DRS decision I think I’ve seen,” he observed, before doubling down later: “I think Smith gave it away there.”
Those comments touched on the wider uncertainty players and fans feel when two audio-visual systems are used in different countries. Ultra-Edge lays a sound wave over the picture; RTS converts its findings into that scrolling snick graph. Both rely on matching audio and vision, yet their thresholds and displays vary slightly, which can magnify debate in high-profile series such as the Ashes.
For Smith and England, the dismissal was a frustrating moment. He had looked solid in a partnership that had eased some early nerves, and England were still chasing Australia’s first-innings 331 at the time. The tourists kept their cool, but privately they will revisit how they manage reviews and how quickly batters commit to, or contest, a spike on the big screen.
Umpires, meanwhile, must juggle transparency with decisiveness. Sharfuddoula followed protocol, yet the long wait emphasised how finely balanced such calls can be. The match moves on, but the discussion around edge detection — and whether one global standard is feasible — will linger through the remainder of the series.
