"Everyone Lost Faith": England Great's Blunt Take On Snicko Controversy In Ashes

The ongoing third Ashes Test between England and Australia became a controversial affair due to the poor results of the snicko technology. On Day 1 of the match in Adelaide, Alex Carey was delcared 'not out' after the snicko meter showed no contact between the bat and ball before wicketkeeper Jamie Smith took a catch. Carey went on to hit a century and later claimed that the ball did make a contact with his bat and he was actually out. On Day 2, England wicketkeeper Smith was declared 'not out', taking the controversy one step ahead. 

Seeing all the drama, former England captain Nasser Hussain slammed the snicko and stated that everyone has now lost the faith in technology. 

“England aren't 2-0 down and had another bad day because of Snicko. England are not losing the Ashes because of the Snicko. But I will say everyone out here has lost faith in Snicko. You could hear on the stump mic, some of the Australian players saying ‘it's a joke' or that ‘it's a terrible system'," said Nasser on Sky Sports.

"The crowd in the stands or the people watching at home, have completely lost faith with the system. Then you get into dangerous territory. You have the third umpire guessing, They're trying to work out when the noise came, when did the ball go past the bat," he added. 

Talking about both the incidents, Nasser called the Jamie Smith incident "farcical". 

“It was farcical today. Jamie Smith clearly gloved one, to the slip cordon. All they were checking was whether Usman Khawaja took the catch cleanly or not. I'm not sure if Khawaja did take the catch cleanly. It looked like it could well have been a bump ball. That's a 50-50 call. But it was overruled on the fact that the third umpire decided that the ball did not hit the glove because the Snicko was not quite aligned with it. It clearly hit the glove," he said. 

"You can imagine Australia's frustration. Forget the Carey thing yesterday. Two wrongs don't make a right! So that (Smith) decision was just wrong. And then Jamie Smith goes for a pull shot and he was given out. And you can imagine the frustration from Smith and Ben Stokes, they just could not believe it. So everyone out here has lost faith with the technology. That's a dangerous place to be in. Cricket has set the tone in how technology is used in sport. It's not like VAR (in football) where there's been huge controversies," he added. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia Cricket Team England Cricket Team Jamie Smith Alex Carey Nasser Hussain Australia vs England, Ashes 2025-26 Cricket