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What’s the Ashes without drama? The 3rd match of the 2025 Ashes, which is being played in Adelaide, was met with a big controversy. This was the Australian wicket-keeper Alex Carey DRS Controversy, which brought attention to the world. English fans were no quicker to call it a “cheat” done by their arch-rivals.
The drama unfolded during the 63rd over. Australia were 245-6 when Carey looked to cut the ball off Josh Tongue, which ended in the gloves of Jamie Smith. England promptly requested a review after their appeal was turned down by on-field umpire Ahsan Raza. As the ball crossed Carey’s outer edge, there was a noticeable noise and a big spike on the Snicko technology that helps with these kinds of choices.
However, TV umpire Chris Gaffaney quickly decided that since the Snicko spike appeared before the ball had touched the bat, the not out judgment should be upheld. Carey was 72 at the time of the review, but went on to hit 106.
It is understood that the stump microphone at the bowlers’ end, not the hitters’ end, provided the sound utilised for the review. As a result, Chris Gaffaney saw a difference between the images and the sound wave.
BBG Sports has stated that it will look into the mistake and take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The home team’s host TV broadcaster provides the decision review system (DRS) technology, which is required in World Test Championship matches. Fox is the host broadcaster in this case, and BBG provides Snicko. Fox has chosen to remain silent.
Also Read: The Forgotten Format: Why Pakistan is Failing at Test Cricket?
Carey confirms noise, Snicko Owner BBG admits technical issue
Following the end of the day, Alex Carey confirmed that he heard the noise from the bat during the press conference.
“I thought there was a feather or some sort of noise when it passed the bat. If I were given out, I think I would have reviewed it, probably not confidently. It was a nice sound as it passed the bat.”
Snicko Owner BBG admits it is a technical issue. The company acknowledged that the delay that caused the audio spike and pictures to be so out of sync was caused by the audio being improperly recorded from the bowler’s stump mic. BBG Sports stated.
“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.”
This wasn’t the first time it happened.
In the first Test, England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was dismissed for being caught behind despite a tiny spike that appeared to be out of time with the ball passing the bat. This led to a major Snicko debate. Officials used the technology’s potential two-frame lag between images and sound waves as justification for the decision.
Australia currently lead the 2025 Ashes series by a margin of two to none with three matches to go. By the end of Day 1 of the third Test, Australia are 326-8.
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