Cricket Australia Boss Slams Technology 'Howler' In Ashes Test

Cricket Australia Boss Slams Technology 'Howler' In Ashes Test (Image Source: X.Com (Twitter))

Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg on Thursday called an error in the Snicko technology being used during the Ashes "not good enough" as England had a review reinstated over the row.

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.

Former England captain Mike Atherton called for calm.

"Forgive me for not getting incandescent about it," he wrote in The London Times.

"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."