A power outage in the broadcast compound at the Gabba meant that the global TV feed went out during the fourth day’s play of the Brisbane Ashes Test.

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Cricket Australia confirmed that the source of the disruption was a loss of power in the broadcast area of the venue. In the UK, BT Sport host Matt Smith was left commentating on the action using images from a stationary, solitary camera by the boundary normally used for pitchside interviews, alongside Steve Harmison and Alastair Cook in the BT studio. The global feed was down for approximately half an hour.

The CA statement read: “There has been a power issue affecting the broadcast compound at the Gabba, resulting in the world feed going down and all resulting technology not working. The issue is being worked on with the aim to get everything working as soon as possible.” 7Cricket, an Australian TV broadcaster not responsible for the global feed, issued the following update on Twitter: “There’s been a big power failure in the compound which has caused the world feed camera outages.”

Technology issues have plagued the first Test, with usual tools such as the cameras to adjudicate front foot no-balls and the equipment required to operate Snicko not available to the TV umpires.

An article in The Age, published before the fourth day, stated that due to Queensland’s strict quarantine rules, the production team for host broadcaster Fox at the Brisbane Test numbered at around 30, well down on the 100 or so that would usually be expected at an Australian Test.

A number of journalists questioned CA’s decision to hand the Test to the Gabba given the quarantine rules that ultimately impacted the quality of the coverage.

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