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Snicko operator admits DRS blunder after Alex Carey confesses ‘luck’ in 3rd Ashes Test

Soumyajit Dutta

Visuals of Alex Carey's DRS review [Source: @7Cricket/X]Visuals of Alex Carey's DRS review [Source: @7Cricket/X]

England have openly criticised the DRS accuracy regarding Australia’s Alex Carey’s non-dismissal during a Josh Tongue delivery in the 63rd over of Day 1 of the Adelaide Test.

After an edge behind was taken up for review, the snickometer showed strange graphics of a spike before the ball touched the bat an missed every beat when it actually nicked the wood.

Carey, later, in an interview, admitted that he might have feathered it, and it made England furious as the snicko operating company let out a formal apology for the incident.

Alex Carey admits he was out despite ‘funny’ snicko visuals

After centurion Alex Carey was given a lifeline at 72, he confessed in a post-match presentation that the ball might have touched the bat when he attempted to slice it away to the offside.

“I thought there was a bit of a feather or some sort of noise when it passed the bat. It looked a bit funny on the replay, didn’t it, with the noise coming early? You have a bit of luck, and maybe it went my way today,” Carey told the media.

BBG Sports issues an apology for the error

Soon after Carey’s statements, BBG Sports, the third party that was in charge of providing the snicko graphics to the broadcasters, apologised. The founder and head of technology of BBG Sports, Warren Brennan said that the company takes full responsibility for the error.

“Given that Alex Carey admitted he had hit the ball in question, the only conclusion that can be drawn from this, is that the ‘Snicko’ operator at the time must have selected the incorrect stump mic for audio processing. In light of this, BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error,” Brennan said.

How did the 'snicko blunder' happen?

According to sources who have close knowledge of the major blunder, the snicko operator, at the time of live broadcasting, had erred and selected the bowler’s stump mic instead of the batter’s end, which led to the ‘funny’ mishap and out-of-sync visuals on the screen that cost England a review.

England furious, ready to make a complaint

England assistant coach David Saker was more than unhappy with the blunder. Saker was blunt while assessing the incident, saying it ‘hurt’ the prospect of England.

“I think the calibration of ‘Snicko’ [has been] out quite a bit and that’s been probably the case for the series. There’s been some things that don’t really measure up. It was a pretty important decision. Those things hurt, but we’ll get through it. You’d think in this day and age… the technology’s good enough to pick things up like that,” Saker said.

With BBG Sports admitting fault, Saker, on behalf of the England team, also shared that they would consider making a formal complaint on the mishap.