By Andy Wilson/Perth

By this stage of the first Ashes series of the year, day 11, Stuart Broad had stood his ground at Trent Bridge, Usman Khawaja been sent on his way at Old Trafford, and there were numerous other embarrassments both for the umpires and the technology in between.

Firstly, Billy Bowden got through a whole day without miscounting the number of balls in an over, as he had done twice in his first day back in Test cricket for more than six months. Second, and cheap shots aside, Bowden made a couple of sound decisions under pressure.

His less controversial colleague Marais Erasmus made at least one and possibly two mistakes at the Prindiville Stand end. But both must surely have been regarded as understandable by all but the most unreasonable umpire-basher, and one was overturned in a perfect example of the value of Real Time Snicko, which detected a thin inside edge when Steve Smith drove at Jimmy Anderson.

It was the other one that annoyed England, although not to the extent of the dismissal of Jonathan Trott, again by Erasmus when he was the third umpire, at Trent Bridge earlier in the year. Erasmus waited an age before raising his finger when Australia appealed vehemently after Root pushed outside the off stump at Shane Watson, whereas the Yorkshireman’s call for a review was instantaneous.

It was easy to see why as neither HotSpot or Real Time Snicko showed any evidence that the ball had clipped the edge of his bat. But neither, crucially, could they confirm that he hadn’t hit it.

Shane Warne raised a good point in the Channel 9 commentary box, wondering: “If there’s no evidence on Hot Spot and the Real Time Snicko is a bit out of sync with when the ball passes the bat [as it was on this occasion, suggesting that Root had clipped his pad with his bat], then what else do you need for you to overturn it.”

Root had, Warne noted while stifling a snigger, “got a bit stiff there”.  But there had actually been an explanation of this decision from Geoff Allardice, the general manager of cricket for the International Cricket Council, when he gave a briefing on the introduction of Real Time Snicko on the eve of the series. Unfortunately, when he was in full flow, Alastair Cook swept past for his pre-match press conference, and it was only the diligent types of ESPN Cricinfo who picked up his crucial point.

“One of the important things to remember is it’s a qualification tool for the umpire about when there is a sound,” Allardice said. “He’s got to say ‘could it have been anything else, was it at the right time?’ So one of the things they’ll be looking for, the frame immediately after the ball’s passed the bat, and if there’s a corresponding sound then it says he could have hit the ball. He’ll look at the pictures and he’ll see is there a  gap between bat and ball, could it have been something else and then make a judgment.

“It’s more conclusive if there’s no sound, if the batsman’s out there waving and there’s nothing as the ball passes the bat, and there’s something a few frames later, that’s the situation where he might say ‘he’s dragged his foot’ or something like that.”

Not terribly clear, or for that matter interesting, but it is easy to see given that guidance why Tony Hill did not feel able to overturn Erasmus’s decision. England were entitled to be annoyed by that, especially given the suspicion that he was influenced by the vehemence of Australia’s appeal.

The snarling send-off Root was given by Watson and, surprise surprise, David Warner also left a sour taste  although the damp patch on a length at the Oval is one of any number of reasons why England are unconvincing occupants of the moral high ground.

The only irrefutable conclusion was that even Real Time Snicko will not make the DRS controversy-proof  and that under the current regulations the game will remain vulnerable to human umpiring error.

Guardian News Service