Caught Behind in Cricket: How Edges Reach the Keeper, Snickometer Technology, and When It's Out vs Not Out
Caught behind (caught wicketkeeper) is the most common method of dismissal in Test cricket — approximately 30% of all dismissals. The batter edges the ball (bat's outside or inside edge) to the wicketkeeper, who catches it cleanly. The DRS uses Snickometer (audio spike + bat path analysis) and Hotspot (infrared heat detection) to determine whether the bat genuinely made contact. Famous controversies: Sachin Tendulkar's 2011 WC caught behind decision that wasn't referred.
The caught behind dismissal — the ball edging off the bat to the wicketkeeper — is the most frequent dismissal in Test cricket. Statistical analysis shows approximately 25–35% of all Test dismissals are caught wicketkeeper. The challenge: the edge is often imperceptible to the naked eye, travelling at 90+ mph off the bat's edge to the keeper's gloves in under 0.1 seconds.
How the Edge Occurs
Types of edges: (1) Outside edge: the ball touches the outside face of the bat — most common for caught behinds to the wicketkeeper or slips. When a pace bowler swings the ball late, a batter playing a defensive push forward often hits the ball's outer edge as the swing takes the ball away. (2) Inside edge: the ball clips the inner face of the bat — the ball may then hit the pad and go to fine leg (not caught behind) or go between bat and pad. An inside edge with no pad nearby may produce a caught behind or slip catch. (3) Top edge: the ball hits the top of the bat, producing a lofted catch — often to short fine leg or fine leg in T20 cricket against spinners or short-pitched bowling.
Snickometer and Hotspot
The DRS uses two technologies for caught behind decisions: Snickometer (now 'Real Time Snickometer'): microphones embedded around the ground pick up audio. A 'spike' on the audio waveform at the moment the bat passes the ball suggests contact. The bat path (from cameras) is overlaid on the audio to confirm spike timing matches ball-bat proximity. Hotspot: thermal infrared cameras detect heat generated by friction — if the ball rubs against the bat, a heat signature appears on the bat's surface. Hotspot can be fooled: ball polish or sweat on the bat creates background heat; it works less reliably with synthetic balls. The third umpire uses both technologies in combination to determine whether contact occurred.
Frequently asked questions
What happens when the ball simultaneously hits the bat and pad, and how do umpires differentiate between caught behind and LBW decisions?
Bat-and-pad decisions: caught behind vs LBW when both are possible. One of cricket's most technically complex decisions occurs when the ball simultaneously (or in quick succession) strikes both the bat and the pad. The order of contact determines the dismissal type: If bat hits BEFORE pad: the batter played at the ball with the bat; the pad contact is irrelevant. The relevant question is: was the ball caught? If yes, it's caught behind (or caught in the slips). If pad hits BEFORE bat: the ball struck the batter's body before the bat — the LBW question applies. If the ball then edges off the bat to the wicketkeeper, it is NOT caught behind (the ball already struck the body first, so the bat contact is secondary). This makes determining contact order crucial. DRS for bat-pad decisions: the Snickometer and Hotspot can often determine contact order by timing the audio spike (if the spike precedes the pad impact visible in video, bat came first) or thermal signatures (if Hotspot shows both bat and pad heat, the sequence determines which came first). Simultaneous contact: when bat and pad genuinely strike simultaneously, the third umpire uses judgment based on: the batter's body position (was the bat extended? was the pad forward?), the audio spike timing, and the camera angle. If simultaneous contact cannot be resolved, the original on-field decision typically stands — the uncertainty isn't sufficient to overturn. Famous cases: the David Warner bat-pad dismissal in Tests multiple times — Warner plays very close to his body, creating regular ambiguity about whether catches to slip are from the bat or the pad. Batters who play 'bat and pad together' defensively (bat behind the pad) deliberately use the bat as secondary contact to ensure pad comes first — making LBW pressure the primary threat and nullifying caught behinds.