A masseuse said she “cried uncontrollably” after West Indian opener Chris Gayle allegedly exposed himself to her. While telling the actual incident to a Sydney court on Wednesday also left her “very upset”.

Gayle is appealing against the Fairfax Media newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times over a series of stories in January 2016 detailing the intense allegations.

On the opening day of his defamation action Monday, Gayle denied all the accusations and claimed the media group was out to “defame” him. His teammate Dwayne Smith, who was present at the time, has also denied the incident.

The newspapers reports suggested that Gayle exposed himself to massage therapist Leanne Russell, who was working for the Windies team, in a dressing room at the 2015 World Cup in Sydney and “indecently propositioned” her.

She told the NSW Supreme Court that she went to the changing room to look for a towel and came across Gayle.

Gayle asked her: “What are you looking for?” the court heard, according to the Herald.

“I said, ‘a towel’,” she replied, and he “pulled his towel out and down”.

“I saw the top half of Chris’ penis — I apologise. I thereafter shielded my view. I said no and walked out.”

Russell said she told the West Indies team’s physiotherapist about the incident soon after it took place and was “very upset” and “crying uncontrollably. I was crying like a child”.

On Tuesday, Smith acknowledged that he sent a text message to Andre Russell that simply read “sexy” after she massaged him the day before the Gayle incident.

Russell said she was “sick of being treated this way” and had spoken out to get other women to realize “this happens all the time and nobody has the guts to speak out and they should”, according to the reports of Herald.

Fairfax said it was defending the articles on the basis the allegations were substantially true and in the public interest.

The hearing is scheduled to run for 10 days.