The Real Time Snickometer would become an automated part of the DRS

In the past number of series there have numerous decisions involving batsmen edging the ball that have left commentators, pundits and fans all scratching their heads, but their cries of better technology being needed for edges have been answered after Australia-based company BBG Sports invented the Real Time Snickometer, which is said to “have taken the Hot Spot system from an accuracy of around 85% to a current accuracy of 95%”.

BBG Sports believes the addition of the Real Time Snickometer to the Hot Spot technology will make it easier for third umpires to make their decisions and it will also increase the speed, reliability and consistency of the current Decision Review System (DRS).

As of right now, the Snickometer is only a visual aid and is not a part of the DRS.

In order to determine if a batsman has edged a delivery, the third umpire will use stump microphones to detect any noises and they will also replay the images numerous times to carefully analyse whether the ball deflected after hitting the bat.

This process usually takes a really long time, but all that could change with the Real Time Snickometer as it would become an automated part of the DRS.

“I am hopeful that it would improve fine-edge detection dramatically,” BBG Sports head Warren Brennan said. “On most occasions, you are going to have the Real Time Snicko and Hot Spot agreeing with another. So the third umpire will now have two points of reference. There can be more consistency that way.”

While the new system would be beneficial to all nations, the International Cricket Council (ICC) would still have to convince the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to use the technology.

Brennan did talk about improving the Snickometer in 2011 with his old colleague Allan Plaskett.

The Snickometer was actually Plaskett’s prized creation in 1999, but thus far the technology has only been used by broadcasters in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and India for the past decade.

“The first task at hand was to ensure that the Snickometer would be ready for the DRS process within 5-10 seconds of an appeal,” Brennan said. “The only way to achieve this was to have our own server hardware recording a minimum of 12 different camera channels plus two stump mics all in real time.”

The Real Time Snickometer has been tested in the UK and Australia over the past year and both Brennan and Plaskett believe that no manual intervention will ever be required for decisions involving edges again.

“Allan and I both envisage a daily pre-match calibration process that will be supervised by the third umpire as the most accurate way in which to set a synchronisation offset between video and audio,” Brennan said. “The major strength of Hot Spot is fine-edge detection for spin bowlers.

“A spinning ball with its rotating action will grip-and-rub more profusely against a cricket bat creating more friction. This in turn creates more heat which is much easier for the Hot Spot cameras to identify.

“The strength of the Real Time Snicko is for faster bowlers where the wicketkeeper is standing 20-plus metres behind the stumps. From this position the noise of the wicketkeeper moving his feet creates little problem unlike when the wicketkeeper is standing up-to-the-stumps for a spin bowler.”

However, before the Real Time Snickometer can start being used in matches, the ICC have to ratify it.

“The plan for 2013 is for Allan and myself to meet with the ICC in March and discuss the possible homologation of the Real Time Snicko into the DRS process,” Brennan said. “If so, then the Hot Spot and Real Time Snicko could work in tandem for faint-edge-detection during the Ashes series starting in July 2013.”