MELBOURNE: Australia captain Steve Smith will seek an explanation from match referee Chris Broad over a Decision Review System malfunction during the second Test on Tuesday.

With West Indies on 210-5 and battling to keep the match alive, paceman Peter Siddle cannoned a delivery into captain Jason Holder’s pads and Smith demanded a review after umpire Marais Erasmus waved away the appeal.

The third umpire went through the usual protocols of checking for a no-ball and a nick on the bat, but there was an awkward pause as the ‘Hawk-Eye’ ball-tracking failed to display on the scoreboard.

Moments passed before the malfunction sunk in and a resigned Erasmus shrugged that the DRS had failed.

Australia were allowed to keep the review and play went on, but a few overs later the technology was back online. Its projection of the delivery, beamed on the scoreboard and TV screens, endorsed Erasmus’s not out decision.

“We’ve made a few enquiries and we’re going to talk to the match referee later on,” Smith told reporters.

“But it’s not ideal if it’s shut down and not working.”

West Indies skipper Holder said he found the incident “quite surprising”.

“I think the quality of Test-playing nations like Australia is pretty much up there with all of the technology,” he added. It was just unfortunate (it happened) at that stage.”

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2015