ADELAIDE, Australia (Reuters)
The Australian Cricket Board has been forced to defend Steve Waugh after South African journalists accused him of making an insensitive remark about fast bowler Steve Elworthy's brain scan.

Elworthy ducked into a bouncer from Australia's Glenn McGrath during Tuesday's limited-overs international at Sydney, and was taken to a local hospital.

As South Africa captain Shaun Pollock reported that Elworthy had been cleared of any serious injury, Waugh was overheard to remark to ACB media manager Brian Murgatroyd: "Yeah, and I bet they didn't find a brain either."

South African journalists were highly critical of Waugh, describing the remark as "callous".

"When you say it as coldly as that it can come across as a bit offensive," South African selector Mike Procter was quoted as saying in the Herald-Sun newspaper on Thursday.

"From a team point of view there was nothing said at breakfast [on Wednesday]. The atmosphere and knowing the way things are said, it could have been taken out of context.

"Knowing Steve Waugh, he's a good guy but the timing was wrong. I know our journalists are taken aback by it."

"Steve is the last person to relish it when a fellow player is injured," said Murgatroyd. "He was also the first to Elworthy after he had been hit by the ball."

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