The Ashes: Ricky Ponting says umpires have private concerns about DRS technology in Australia

Chris Robinson & AAP
The West Australian
Ricky Ponting has had his say on the DRS controversy.
Ricky Ponting has had his say on the DRS controversy. Credit: Getty/Seven

Ricky Ponting says umpires in Australia have concerns about trusting the DRS technology used Down Under in the wake of Wednesday’s controversial blunder.

The operators of Snicko admitted a technical error denied the tourists claiming Alex Carey’s wicket on the opening day of the Third Test.

England spoke with match referee Jeff Crowe, who agreed a fault occurred and handed a review back to England.

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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 incident highlighted private worries from umpires about the system in Australia.

“This technology that we are using here (in Australia) is simply not as good as technology that’s used in other countries,” Ponting said on Seven.

“You talk to the umpires, they’ll tell you the same thing. They can’t trust it.

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“They’ve got a third umpire sitting up in there that’s 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’s in place.”

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.”

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