Ashes: ENG player questions lack of technology for no balls in 'biggest series of cricket'

England's Sam Billings has questioned the lack of technology for no-balls in the ongoing Ashes series against Australia. Billings, who is not in England's Ashes squad, took to social media on Friday to criticise the broadcasters for not employing the snicko metre and the no-ball detection technology. The lack of technology was exposed after Channel 7 performed its own investigation and discovered that England all-rounder Ben Stokes bowled 14 no-balls, with only two of them being called by the umpires.

It was later revealed that the technology used by the TV umpire to detect no-balls was damaged before the start of the first Test in Brisbane, and that the match is being played without it. Billings turned to his official Twitter handle, where he wrote, "No snicko and no technology for no balls. Why? (For the biggest series in cricket…)."

Earlier in the match, Australian batter David Warner was dismissed off a no-ball by Stokes, which resulted in Warner being called back by the umpires to continue his innings. The Aussie opener went on to score a magnificent 94 off 176 balls. The incident that occurred in the 13th over was the primary reason behind Channel 7 conducting the investigation on the numbers of no-balls bowled in the match and how many of those were called correctly.

Ashes, 1st Test

Coming back to the match, England finished batting on Day 3 at 220/2, with skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan still intact at the crease in their 80s. Earlier, Australia finished their first innings with a mammoth lead of 278 runs, courtesy of some brilliant batting by Travis Head, who made a stylish comeback into the Australian Test squad by hitting a magnificent 152 off 148 balls. Marnus Labuschagne also scored a half-century for Australia before being dismissed for 74 runs by Jack Leach. 

Meanwhile, England was bowled out for just 147 runs in their first innings. Jos Buttler top-scored for the visiting side with 39 off 58 balls. Haseeb Hameed, Ollie Pope, and Chris Woakes were the other contributors for England, hitting 25, 35, and 21 runs, respectively. Pat Cummins, who was bowling in his debut Test match as Australian captain, picked a fifer to kickstart his journey as his side's new skipper in the longest format. 

Image: Twitter/@man4_cricket