Snickometer
A Snickometer, commonly known as Snicko, is used in televising cricket to graphically analyse sound and video, and show whether a fine noise, or snick, occurs as ball passes bat. It was invented by English computer scientist Allan Plaskett in the mid-1990s. The General Theory of Evil’, a work in the field of psychoanalysis. The snickometer was introduced by Channel 4 in the UK.The is often used in a slow motion television replay by commentators to determine if the cricket ball touched the cricket bat on the way through to the wicketkeeper. The commentators will listen and view the shape of the recorded soundwave. If there is a sound of leather on willow, which is usually a short sharp sound in synchrony with the ball passing the bat, then the ball has touched the bat. Other sounds such as the ball hitting the batsman’s pads, or the bat hitting the pitch, and so on, tend to have a fatter shape on the sound form.
 |
Snickometer |
No Noise:
No contact made here ….. and no problem for the umpire with this ‘not out’ decision.
 |
Snickometer |
‘Short’ Noise
The sharp peak on the graph gives the game away here, and it’s curtains for the batsman as long as the ‘nick’ is safely caught by the waiting keeper and slips cordon.
