Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg called an error in the Snicko technology being used during the Ashes series “not good enough” and said he was seeking answers as the issue flared again on Thursday.
The operators of the technology admitted that a fault on day one of the third Test in Adelaide had denied the tourists’ Alex Carey’s wicket.
Carey slammed 106 in Australia’s first innings, but had a lucky escape on 72.
England called for a review after their appeal for caught behind off Josh Tongue’s pace bowling was turned down by the umpire Ahsan Raza
The stump microphones picked up a clear sound, but the replay showed the noise before the ball passed Carey’s bat and TV umpire Chris Gaffaney upheld the on-field decision.
Carey suggested afterwards that he hit the ball and BBG Sports, the company that owns Snicko, used to help match officials review decisions made by on-field umpires, accepted responsibility for the mistake.
“It certainly caused me some heartburn because the whole idea of technology is to take away the clanger or the howler,” Greenberg said on SEN radio.
“From what I can understand having dug into it last night and this morning is human error.
“There’s two human errors there -- one is the actual decision from the umpire, and then there’s supposed to be a failsafe with the technology and it didn’t happen.
“In my view it’s not good enough,” he added.
“We’re asking a lot of questions of the provider through the broadcasters and we’re hoping to get some answers so we can be assured it won’t happen again.”
The furore saw match referee Jeff Crowe reinstate a review decision for England, meaning they started day two with two reviews left, rather than one.
There was another suspect decision on day two when England’s Jamie Smith, on 22, was given out off what Australia claimed was a faint edge off Pat Cummins to wicketkeeper Carey.
The Snicko showed a small spike despite what looked like a gap between bat and ball, with skipper Ben Stokes, batting at the other end, shaking his head as Smith was forced to trudge.
Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc was heard over the television microphones saying: “Snicko needs to be sacked”.
According to the BBC, England plan to hold discussions with the International Cricket Council with the aim of improving the technology.
The governing body requires DRS to be in use at all fixtures in the World Test Championship, but does not specify which technology providers should be used.
The Snicko system used in Australia is different from the one employed in England.
Former England captain Mike Atherton called for calm.
“Forgive me for not getting incandescent about it,” he wrote in The London Times after the Carey incident.
“If you come from a generation where human error was accepted as part of the game -- and on any Test match day, there would have been so many mistakes made by umpires -— then it is hard to get too worked up.
“Mistakes happen, and probably always will in a system relying, to any degree, on human input, whether in the middle or in the television trucks.”
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