Ashes rivals England and Australia could not hide their dismay as the reliability of the Snickometer technology was put in the spotlight once again on day two of the third Test in Adelaide.
Australia were sure they had Jamie Smith caught off the glove on 16, but the Snicko verdict sided with the England batter, who indicated that the ball had hit only his helmet. There were also doubts over the slip catch, which looked close to hitting the ground, but that was not the reason for the not out verdict.
Pace bowler Mitchell Starc was heard on the stump microphone offering a withering assessment, saying: "Snicko needs to be sacked. That's the worst technology there is. They make a mistake the other day and they make another mistake today."
Marnus Labuschagne was also heard making light of the concussion check Smith was obliged to undergo, clearly doubting he had been struck on the helmet at all.
The confusion continued when Smith was given out shortly after, caught behind pulling Pat Cummins. Australia were sure they had their man, Smith appeared to think he was innocent, but umpire Nitin Menon only added to the sense of uncertainty by signalling for a TV review himself having failed to give a decision.
Smith was then given out despite yet another syncing issue that showed a spike one frame early. He threw his arms in surprise, with former England spinner Graeme Swann among those venting their fury.
"I don't want to sound like a whingeing pom but it seems like one rule for one and one for another. Throw Snicko away - it's nonsense," he said on TNT Sport.
Your Site Nasser Hussain:
"It was farcical today. Everyone out here has lost faith with Snicko.
"You could hear on the stump mic some of the Australian players just saying it's a joke, a terrible system. The crowd leaving here and people watching at home have also completely lost faith with the system
"And that gets you into dangerous territory, because everyone starts guessing. Third umpires start guessing, trying to work out when the noise came, when did the ball go past the bat.
"In general, cricket has set the tone for how to use technology in sport. It's not like VAR where there's been huge controversies - cricket and the DRS system has worked. But it's not working in this series.
"And that's not me being a whinging Pom by the way. England aren't 2-0 down and had another bad day because of Snicko."
The DRS technology, designed to assist umpires on edges based on audio output from the stump microphone, came under fire on the opening day when Australia's Alex Carey was wrongly reprieved.
He nicked the ball on 72 but was spared after an operator error produced an unreliable soundwave that showed a pronounced gap between the noise and the ball passing the bat. Australia scored another 76 runs before Carey was finally dismissed for a century.
England took the matter to match referee Jeff Crowe, who duly restored their lost review in what amounted to an admission that they had been wronged.
BBG Sports, the company that owns Snicko, accepted culpability for the mistake. The company admitted the audio was incorrectly taken from the stump mic at the bowler's end, creating the delay that put the audio spike and images so far out of sync.
"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," BBG Sports said.
George B: Snicko has been pretty bad over the Test, but it won't be the reason England (probably) lose - the inability to bat time and survive pressure will be.
Lewsea: All this palaver over Snicko. Let's sack our batsmen first. They've arguably performed worse than even Snicko has!
Steveiwbev0890: It's not the technology of Snicko that's the problem... the people operating it have had a mare. It's like VAR: the technology is great the people using it aren't fit for purpose.
Coseley Wolf: It's not Snicko we should be berating. It is the lack of preparation and over confidence that England were better than a poor Australian side that aren't so poor. Feel sorry for everyone who has spent so much getting out there to watch such a farcical display.
Australia lead five-match series 2-0
