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'They can't trust it': Aussie great on DRS technology
Steve Larkin & Scott Bailey, AAP • December 18th, 2025 2:00 pm
Ricky Ponting says technology used in Australia for the DRS system is simply not good enough | Photo: Con Chronis/AAP
Umpires don't trust technology around the decision review system in Australia which is substandard compared to other countries, Ricky Ponting says.
The former Australia captain says he can understand England's angst at a costly technological blunder in the third Test in Adelaide.
England had a review reinstated after the operators of Snicko admitted a technical error denied the tourists claiming Alex Carey's wicket on Wednesday's opening day of the match.
Carey, on 72, survived a caught behind appeal when England reviewed the initial not out decision.
Replays showed a noise spike on Snicko before the ball even reached Carey's bat.
The founder of Snicko operators BBG Sports said human error was at fault and Carey must have hit the ball.
The flashpoint came with Australia on 245/6 and Carey went on to make 106.
After play, Carey admitted he'd heard the noise as the ball went past the bat.
England spoke with match referee Jeff Crowe, who agreed a fault occurred and handed a review back to England.
But the reinstatement offers scant solace to England, who are expected to raise the issue with the ICC, while Cricket Australia will also ask questions of the operators.
Ponting said the situation was near farcical.
"This technology that we are using here (in Australia) is simply not as good as technology that's used in other countries," Ponting told Channel Seven.
"You talk to the umpires, they'll tell you the same thing. They can't trust it.
"They've got a third umpire sitting up in there that has got to make decisions based on what he's seeing that the technology is providing.
"And sometimes they have a gut feel that it's not right.
"That can't happen. You've got to be able to trust the technology that is in place."
BBG founder Warren Brennan conceded the error.
"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," he said in a statement on Wednesday night.
"In light of this, BBG Sports takes full responsibility for the error."
Alex Carey scores his first Ashes century on the opening day of the third Test in Adelaide | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
England bowling coach David Saker made no secret of his frustration after play on day one.
"I think the calibration of Snicko (has been) out quite a bit and that's been probably the case for the series," Saker said.
"There's been some things that don't really measure up.
"And at that stage ... it was a pretty important decision.
"So those things hurt but we'll get through it.
"But you would think in this day and age ... technology is good enough to pick things up like that."
Tune into Sport Nation for live ball-by-ball commentary of The Ashes series - the third Test continues on Sport Nation Extra via the Sport Nation app - thanks to SEN.
Alex Carey makes Ashes history in front of his own | SEN Cricket
