England are weighing up a formal complaint to match officials over the reliability of review technology at the Ashes after Alex Carey admitted escaping dismissal on the opening day of the third Test in Adelaide, a moment that reignited concerns about the standard of decision-making aids being used in the series.
Carey went on to make an emotional century at his home ground as Australia reached 326 for eight, but his innings could easily have ended on 72.
Josh Tongue found a thin edge that appeared to carry through to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, with Carey himself gesturing towards England’s fielders as if to acknowledge contact.
England immediately reviewed the decision, convinced the batter had nicked the ball.
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What followed only deepened frustration. The Real-Time Snicko system used during the series appeared to show a spike, but one that did not clearly correspond with the moment the ball passed the bat.
The audio seemed to precede the visual evidence, persuading third umpire Chris Gaffaney to uphold the on-field decision and deny England a crucial breakthrough.
Unlike Ultra-Edge, which is employed in Tests in England and is regarded as more precisely synchronised, RTS has been repeatedly criticised during this Ashes for misalignment between sound and image.
England were convinced that Alex Carey was gone, but what's your take here?#Ashes | #DRSChallenge | @Westpac pic.twitter.com/g7bp7ptQXO
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 17, 2025
England bowling coach David Saker did not hide his dismay, making clear that the Carey incident was not viewed as an isolated flaw.
“The boys were pretty confident he hit it,” Saker said.
“I think the calibration of the snick is out quite a bit and that has probably been the case for the series. There’s been some things that don’t really measure up. At that stage, it was a pretty important decision. Those things hurt, but you get through it.
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Five things to know about the Ashes | PA“In this day and age you’d think the technology is good enough to pick things up like that.”
Saker confirmed that England are now considering escalating the issue.
“I don’t think we’ve done anything about it so far, but after today, maybe that might go a bit further,” he said.
“There have been concerns about it for the whole series. We shouldn’t be talking about this after a day’s play, it should just be better than that. It is what it is.”
Within hours, BBG Sports, the company that owns and operates Snicko, issued a public apology and accepted responsibility for the error.
In a statement, the company acknowledged that the technology had been misused during the review.
Alex Carey hit a stunning century for Australia against England on day one of the third Ashes Test | PA“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,” the statement read.
“In light of this, BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error.”
It is believed that the audio used during the review was mistakenly taken from the stump microphone at the bowler’s end, creating a mismatch between sound and pictures shown to officials and viewers.
The decision review system for the Ashes is supplied by the host broadcaster, Fox, which in turn contracts BBG to provide Snicko.
The admission did little to quell anger among English commentators covering the series in Australia. Former England fast bowler Steven Finn went as far as calling for the technology to be scrapped altogether after a string of contentious moments.
“Ashes series usually end people’s careers,” Finn said on TNT Sports. “It might be the end of Snicko’s career at the end of this one. It has performed awfully throughout the series. There’s been three or four incidents, so hopefully they can sharpen that.”