Styris vs Richardson: Pig vs Rig

Prickly old Mark Richardson has again found himself one of the protagonists in a stoush with a former team-mate. Unlike the Stephen Fleming pre-match interview at Eden Park a couple of years ago, this time it will be difficult to swallow any claim that the fracas involving the fingerwork of Scott Styris is anything other than authentic.

As well as the column buried in the nether regions of the Sky TV website in which the original "anti-NZ" comments were originally made, Rigor also writes a (better edited and less typo-laden) column for the Herald on Sunday. Fanning the flames with a spot of self-indulgence, he devoted his whole column to the Pig v Rig text tiff, and says he was "extremely disappointed" that the specific details of what was said found their way into the public domain.

The question is: who would have dared to leak the content of the vitriolic text messages? A witch-hunt will be under way there. Styris would probably have wanted to undo what he sent - or at least tidy up some of the grammar laid bare in his tirades. Richardson did make "an informal complaint" (what does that mean - via text message?) to NZ Cricket so presumably he had to forward what was said to head office at some point. Somewhere in this chain of events, the details were coughed up and a Warnesque imbroglio has erupted.

On B Sport this morning, leaguehead Dean Lonergan was firing shots left, right and centre. Labelling Richardson as "Mark the Nark", he went on to deride the former opener as a "poofter" who could hand criticism out, but couldn't take it on the chin when he found himself in the telecommunications firing line. Scathing comments indeed - but Richardson was probably within his rights to take at least a little offence. Being called an old bloke or wannabe journalist is one thing, but being invited to die by choking on your own excrement is probably on the wrong side of the decency boundary. He might have been better advised to sort things out directly with his former team-mate, rather than getting the fish-heads involved.

Across the Tasman, the details were repeated with glee by many Aussie media outlets, but Canberra Times reporter John-Paul Moloney read more into it than most, welcoming Richo to "the hazardous life of the ex-athlete-turned-journo". ("Athlete" might be pushing the barrow out a little too far in this instance: cricketers and athletes are often two very different breeds.) Contrasting Richardson's critical eye with the work of another sportsjock-cum-sportshack in the Channel 9 State of Origin coverage, he wrote:

"The worst offender as always was Ben Ikin... Ikin's buddy-buddy relationship with the Maroons is great for the TV network. It means he has excellent access to the team rooms, always a welcomed back-slapper after a win. But it seems to render him incapable of offering anything but pro-Queensland blather. There's a relationship between the sycophantic approach taken by the likes of Ikin and the response Richardson received for his column. When athletes only hear only praise or only dripping sympathy when they've stuffed up, they get used to it and believe it to be the natural order of things. When they hear criticism, they become intolerant of it...when it's an ex-player causing the offence, there's more at stake, including friendships forged over many years and in many tough scrapes. It takes a pretty brave soul to make the jump from one side of the athlete/journo fence to the other and do it with journalistic integrity, knowing what they stand to lose if they speak their minds."

I think J-P might be stretching things a little far here. Richardson has not made a point of bravely taking potshots at the New Zealand side. If anything he is often firmly in their corner. Joseph Romanos even went so far as to rap him over the knuckles in February for his role as one of the sycophantic observers (along with Simon Doull) in the "substandard" Sky TV cricket commentary team. Romanos said:

"Richardson is selling himself short. He is a canny observer of cricket (and of sport in general to judge by his comments on The Crowd Goes Wild), but does not do himself justice because he seems to believe that he has to reduce everything to a joke...It's time the commentators stopped repeatedly alluding to their playing days - how often do we have to hear jokes about Richardson being a slow scorer? - and progressed to a more professional standard of work."

The aftermath of the Pig v Rig text war is shaping up to be a little awkward on at least one media front. Styris appears to be zeroing in on a seat in the Sky TV commentary box - alongside Flem perhaps - and none other than Mark Richardson.  Styris and Fleming were recently put through their paces as correspondents taking part in the interesting Sky doco on the Indian Premier League, Inside the IPL. Both have also had short-term stints behind the microphones in the last couple of seasons. It could be the beginning of our very own Bill Lawry/Tony Greig niggling/aggro thing. For the record, Romanos left us in no doubt which of the two he would prefer to have in his lounge:

"Styris unfortunately seems to fit in with some of the other clowns in the commentary box. Fleming, who commentated a Twenty20 match, was outstanding, bringing a serious tone and rare insight to his work."

Whatever the fallout from here - and surely it has all but run its course until they are next in the same room together - things have certainly evolved since the two were clubbing centuries for New Zealand a few years ago, most memorably at Mohali in 2003 where Richardson made a cramp-punctuated 145, playing second fiddle to a sparkling Styris knock of 119 as they worked up a partnership of 151.

And a note to Lonergan: what about lining these two up in the next celebrity grudge match for charity. Who'd win?