Teams play down bouncer role in NZ

Neither New Zealand nor Bangladesh are concerned about the use of short balls, one of which sent Mushfiqur Rahim to hospital with mild concussion during the opening Test.

The Bangladesh skipper was released from hospital and returned to Wellington's Basin Reserve to give interviews following the seven-wicket loss on Monday.

New Zealand had employed a short ball attack to most Bangladeshi batsmen while left-armer Neil Wagner was hit on the helmet three times during New Zealand's first innings.

During the match Wagner was given one warning for short-pitched bowling and would have been taken off if given a second.

The short ball was a tactic to get batsmen out and both teams had used it well, Williamson said after the match.

"It is very unfortunate when you do see someone get hit," he said.

"It was uncanny that there were so many people hit on a fast bouncy wicket, which often it goes over the top.

"Often you go through a Test match and you don't see one, and in this game for whatever reason, Neil Wagner got hit about 10 times and some of the Bangladeshis players got hit."

Things had improved and there were now restrictions on bouncers, he said.

"Back in the day you could bowl as many (bouncers) as you wanted and they had no helmets," Williamson said.

"Thank goodness we've got a lot better safety equipment."

Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal wasn't complaining either.

"That's part of the game. You can't complain about it. That was their strategy maybe. I have no complaints I am sure Mushy doesn't have complaints too," he said.