Cricket: Fleming and Richardson's 'row' a spoof

A video posted on the internet of New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming appearing to rip into former Black Cap turned commentator Mark Richardson has been revealed as a Sky TV spoof.

In what seemed to be a startling outburst following a TV interview, Fleming was shown calling Richardson an "idiot" and saying he had "forgotten who his friends are".

A video of the supposed after-interview comments was posted on the cricketweb.net website - see link below.

But Sky TV said this morning that the encounter was a set-up for its weekly magazine show Cricket Company.

Sky's executive producer of cricket, Martin Crowe said: "The interview was a spoof in which Stephen has a crack at Mark about his commentary. It was scripted and not real although it has appeared on the internet as a news item.

"We regret any embarrassment to Stephen or Mark as a result of the item's broadcast."

- HERALD ONLINE STAFF

* An earlier version of this story wrongly reported that the row was genuine.