Styris lashes out at 'laughing' Windies

Scott Styris, the New Zealand allrounder, has accused the West Indies players of "laughing and joking" when he and three of his team-mates were hit on the helmet during the first Test in Auckland.

Styris adopted the holier-than-thou attitude that the New Zealanders always show compassion in similar circumstances. "There was a little bit of disappointment when their guys were laughing and joking when our guys got hit," Styris said during New Zealand's practice session in Wellington yesterday. "I mentioned it to Fidel [Edwards] after I got hit [by him], just their lack of checking out to see if we are fine. You want to play the game hard, you want to play the game fair, but you always want to make sure the other bloke isn't hurt," he added.

Styris claimed that the New Zealanders ensured Ramnaresh Sarwan was okay after he was felled by a bouncer from Shane Bond in the West Indies' second innings. "That's why we got pretty grumpy and disappointed with [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul and [Daren] Ganga when Jamie How got hit under the lid," he explained, referring to the blow to the helmet to the short-leg fielder when Chanderpaul pulled a ball from Daniel Vettori.

Brendon McCullum was heard through the television stump microphone telling Chanderpaul to move away when he approached to see if How was alright. "You didn't show any concern before," McCullum, the talkative wicketkeeper, said.

Styris conceded that the West Indies players "finally showed a bit of concern for someone, but we thought it was a little too late. I don't know if there is an international understanding but you expect natural consideration for someone who is hurt," he said. "You want to get him out, you want to intimidate him to get him out, but you don't want to see a guy carried off on a stretcher." "We certainly don't, and I know Bondy [Shane Bond] doesn't, and he's mentioned that," Styris added. "He's trying to hit him but he's not trying to knock the guy out and if he does hit him then he is looking to see if he is okay."

The New Zealand media has picked up the theme with Jonothan Millmow citing the alleged "lack of remorse" shown by the West Indies as "probably a legacy of their upbringing". "They will have been raised on stories of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner breaking bones as regularly as they broke stumps and of home crowds delighting in batsmen being carted off injured," he wrote.