There's been praise for a female broadcaster after a world-class cricketer flirted with her on-air.

Chris Gayle's been called disrespectful for asking Mel McLaughlin for a drink, and then telling her not to blush as she conducted an on-field interview.

Newstalk ZB Radio Sport editor Rikki Swannell said there's one person comes out of this looking a bit silly, and that's Chris Gayle.

She said Mel McLaughlin has been around a long time - she's not on TV because she's a young, pretty face, she's a very experienced reporter.

"You could see straight away that she was not buying into it and so his absolute lack of awareness of that situation I think probably points back to him a little bit more."

Swannell said it's frustrating for the many women in the sport-reporting industry who are doing a damn fine job. She said incidents like this take the conversation away from what's actually relevant.

"This is what we are discussing now. We're not discussing the great job, we're not discussing the great competition, all of those things. I'm sure Mel McLaughlin just wanted to go to work and do her job like anybody else."