Snicko controversy takes centre stage in 3rd Ashes Test as Jamie Smith & England suffer

On the first day, Alex Carey had survived a potentially match-altering call. He later revealed that he had edged the ball.

Snicko has taken centre stage at Adelaide Oval. After Alex Carey survived what could only be described as a howler on the first day of the third Ashes Test, we witnessed two more blunders on the second day.

Jamie Smith and Snicko controversy

Both incidents involved England’s wicketkeeper Jamie Smith. The first occurred in the 44th over as Pat Cummins bounced Jamie out, and the ball brushed his glove and went to Usman Khawaja at first slip.

On-field umpire Nitin Menon wasn’t sure if the catch was taken cleanly and sent it upstairs. Third umpire Chris Gaffaney reversed the decision after the Snicko showed no noise when the ball went past his glove.

The ball had clearly hit the glove, but during the review, a frame was missing where the ball struck the glove. Jamie was given not out. He shouldn’t have sent it back since Khawaja didn’t take the catch cleanly, but the umpire adjudged it not out on the basis of the Snicko.

An angry Mitchell Starc was heard cursing the technology. “Snicko needs to be sacked. That’s the worst technology there is. They make a mistake yesterday, they make another mistake today,” the stump mic picked up Starc.

Just two overs later, Jamie was once again involved in another Snicko fiasco. The keeper tried to pull Cummins and seemingly edged the ball to Carey. The umpires felt it hadn’t carried and sent it upstairs again.

There was a spike on Snicko when the ball was passing the bat. However, one could see that there was daylight between the ball and the bat. Jamie and Ben Stokes couldn’t believe the decision made by the umpire as the keeper walked off the pitch.