Snicko Controversy Rages On At The Ashes As Jamie Smith Decisions Leave Both Teams Furious

England have had their one review reinstated after BBG Sports, the supplier of Snicko, admitted an operator error on Day 1 of the third Ashes Test against Australia. The Adelaide Test, however, continues to test the marriage of technology and cricket as Snicko got into the act, not once but twice, on the second day.

Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey was the benefactor on the opening day, as he admitted to nicking the ball when on 72 off Josh Tongue's bowling. He was adjudged not out since the spike which appeared on the Snickometer technology was incongruous with the visuals, but that was eventually disclosed to have been an error by the operator. Carey went on to hit a hundred.

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On Thursday (December 18, 2025), England gloveman Jamie Smith was in the thick of things on two occasions with the bat. Smith was ruled not out when on 16 and later adjudged to have been caught behind for 22.

The first incident was during the 44th over, off Aussie skipper Pat Cummins' bowling. The hosts appealed for a catch after a short ball to Smith went to Usman Khawaja at first slip and on-field umpire Nitin Menon sent it upstairs to check if the ball had carried.

Going through multiple replays, TV umpire Chris Gaffaney first checked if the ball had hit Smith's glove or helmet. While the visuals seemed to show the ball hitting Smith's glove, the Snicko technology had a spike as the ball passed the helmet instead of the glove, and Gaffaney decided that the ball had hit Smith's head.

Then in the 46th over, a call went against England when Cummins appealed for a slight edge from the toe end of Smith's bat off a bouncer, as it carried to Carey. Menon gave it out, and it was confirmed by Gaffaney despite a seemingly indecisive spike as the ball went past the bat.

Reactions To Snicko Controversy

Australia were disappointed with the initial Smith not out decision and one fielder, evidently Mitchell Starc, was heard saying over the stump mic that "Snicko needs to be sacked". He added: "That's the worst technology there is. They make a mistake the other day and they make another mistake today."

Then, when Smith was ruled out on 22, both him and his partner Ben Stokes seemed furious with the decision.

Cricket great Ricky Ponting raised questions about the quality of tech being used Down Under. He said on 7Cricket: “This technology that we are using here (in Australia) is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries. You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.

“They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s got to make decisions based on what he’s seeing that the technology is providing, and sometimes they have a gut feel that it’s not right. That can’t happen. You’ve got to be able to trust the technology that’s in place.”

His former teammate Glenn McGrath opined that for both decisions "the right decision was probably made".

Earlier, England bowling coach David Saker was vocal about his frustration with Snicko. He said at the post-Day 1 press conference: “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.

“And at that stage ... it was a pretty important decision. So those things hurt but we’ll get through it. But you would think in this day and age ... technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”