CA hoping to get real-time snicko approved for use in time for winter Ashes

Cricket Australia (CA) is reportedly hoping that a much-vaunted key improvement to the Decision Review System (DRS), the real-time snickometer, will be approved in time for use across the whole winter Ashes series.

Both Australia and England are strong supporters of the introduction of the real-time snickometer, a system combining audio monitoring with match footage intended to help umpires gauge more accurately whether a batsman has hit the ball.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, CA chief executive James Sutherland said that he would have no qualms if the ICC waited until the eve of the series, or even after it begins, to approve the addition of real-time snickometer to the DRS technology suite, because of the expected positive benefits of it.

Stating that he will not worry about the introduction of the snicko if the ICC has worked through the processes, Sutherland further said that the key benefit of real-time snickometer would be its supposed capacity to indicate 'when the sound is coming from somewhere else' than the edge of bat.

Sutherland also speculated that had the new DRS tool been used during the summer Ashes in England, it could have spared Australia's Usman Khawaja, whose caught-behind dismissal off Graeme Swann was infamously upheld by the third umpire despite clearly missing the ball.

Sutherland further said that they need to make sure that all the protocols are right and that the umpires are trained for using the new tool, adding that the real-time snicko did not have to be conclusively accurate on all occasions to be beneficial.

The main hurdle to the introduction of the snicko in time for the Gabba Test is the necessity for it to be approved by the ICC with enough time for participating umpires to be trained in its use before the match begins next Thursday, the report added.