England Review Complaint Option Following Snicko Malfunction in the Adelaide Test

The first day of the Adelaide test saw an unusual controversy when Alex Carey survived a caught-behind review despite a clear spike visible on the Snickometer. The incident frustrated the England team, as they considered making a formal complaint to the match referee over the reliability of the technology used in the ongoing Ashes series.

When Alex Carey was asked in the press conference whether he had nicked the ball, he said there was some sort of noise as the ball passed the bat. This suggested that the edge was real, however, England could not take advantage of the opportunity due to an error in judgment.

"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? If I was given out, I think I would have reviewed it - probably not confidently though. It was a nice sound as it passed the bat, yeah.” said Alex Carey at the post-day press conference.

He acknowledged that some luck might have gone his way at that moment, as there was a clear sound of an edge. He said incidents like this often happen in cricket, so people should not make a fuss about it.

"Snicko obviously didn't line up, did it? That's just the way cricket goes sometimes, isn't it? You have a bit of luck, and maybe it went my way today." said Australian wicketkeeper batter, Alex Carey.

The founder of BBG Sports, which provides the Snicko technology used in Australia, also acknowledged the malfunction that gave Alex Carey a huge reprieve. He said BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error, as it has raised questions about the efficacy of the technology.

"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." said founder of BBG Sports, Warren Brennan.

The former umpire of ICC, Simon Taufel, also said that the incident was unfortunate and confusing. He said that such scenarios are rare in cricket, as he has not seen anything like this before.

"The confusing element here for everyone was that the spike occurred at least a couple of frames before the bat, which was just amazing. I have never seen a spike like this occur without the bat hitting something like a pad, or the ground, or the ball hitting the pad.” said Simon Taufel while speaking to the media.

"My gut tells me, from all of my experience on-field, and also as a TV umpire, that I think Alex Carey has actually hit that ball and the technology calibration hasn't been quite right to game the outcome that it was looking for." added Simon Taufel.

Persistent Doubts About Snicko’s Reliability

England’s bowling coach, David Saker, said the team has reservations about the use of Snicko technology in the series. It has been a point of concern since the start of the Ashes, however, the team will try to move forward without dwelling on it too much.

"The boys were pretty confident he hit it. I think the calibration of the Snicko is out quite a bit, and that has probably been the case for the series. There's been some things that don't really measure up.” said England bowling coach, David Saker.

"At that stage, it was a pretty important decision. Those things hurt, but you get through it. In this day and age, you'd think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that." added David Saker.

He added that England might lodge a complaint now with the match referee regarding the ongoing issues they have faced with Snicko so far in the series.

"I don't think we've done anything about it so far but after today, maybe that might go a bit further. There have been concerns about it for the whole series. We shouldn't be talking about this after a day's play, it should just be better than that. It is what it is." said David Saker.

Speaking about the match situation, he said that England will try to knock out Australia quickly on day two of the Adelaide test. It would be therefore an important first session in which England will try to wrap up the Australian innings.

"It'd be nice to knock them over really quick in the morning and then bat very big. It's pretty important our first innings is a big innings because I don't think the wicket will get easier [at the] back of day four and five." concluded David Saker.