The contentious dismissal of Amy Jones off a waist-high full-toss in the first Women’s Ashes ODI has sparked a debate over umpiring inconsistency in judging no-balls.

The incident occurred off the final ball of the 20th over of England’s chase, with Amy Jones receiving a high full-toss from Tahlia McGrath, which she swatted straight to Ellyse Perry at deep square-leg. The decision to check for a waist-high no-ball was taken upstairs, with the third umpire reviewing the footage for a considerable period before giving Jones out.

There was plenty of reaction on social media following the decision, with many expressing their unhappiness over the call, suggesting that the ball wasn’t dipping enough to be deemed a legitimate delivery. Some even brought up a similar incident from the Australia-India game last September, when Nicola Carey was handed a reprieve from the umpires following a waist-high full-toss in the final over, which helped keep their Australia’s record streak in ODIs intact.

The decision in the Canberra ODI didn’t come at as crucial a juncture as the Carey non-dismissal but it did spark debate over the right methodology to judge such calls. A few suggested using ball-tracking to properly analyse the path of the dipping delivery, for matches that have a DRS system in place.

The slide continued for England following Jones’ wicket as they eventually fell short by 27 runs. Consequently, Australia retained the Ashes.

THAT’S A NO BALL!!!!!! #ashes #WAshes

— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93) February 3, 2022

No ball 🥲#Ashes pic.twitter.com/rq3WgNjofm

— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) February 3, 2022

it was just a no ball imo, as was the india one. always seems absolute madness to me that a bowler can end up with the BoD in this situation.

— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) February 3, 2022

Sorry but some of the responses here are hilarious. There were TWO such instances in the previous multi format series that went in batting side’s favour- both in death overs. So yeah…#IamOuttahere

— Shikha Pandey (@shikhashauny) February 3, 2022

I have spent parts of this summer befuddled by adjudication from third umpire on hip-high full toss. It’s such an imperfect science like LBW but there is no “umpires call”. If we must go to the replay surely there is predicative ball tracking for height from side on. #Ashes

— QUENTIN HULL (@QuentinHull) February 3, 2022

Random thought. In matches where DRS is in place, why not use ball-tracking to check full toss no balls? Otherwise this just feels like an arbitrary 50-50 call. Isn't Hawkeye meant to project ball trajectory anyway? #Ashes pic.twitter.com/sLgwPHd1Fe

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) February 3, 2022