Katich blasts 'ridiculous' Australia axing

Sydney: Simon Katich launched a furious broadside at Australia’s selectors on Friday, slamming “inconsistent” decisions and saying his axing from the list of centrally contracted players was “absolutely ridiculous”. The 35-year-old opening batsman said he would play on for New South Wales but assumed his omission from the list of 25 contracted players, which was announced on Tuesday, marked the end of his international career. “I’m extremely frustrated and disappointed about the decision and I also want to make it clear that I’m not the only player who has gone through this in the last couple of years due to inconsistent selection policies,” he told a news conference in Sydney. “I think the decision was absolutely ridiculous.” [caption id=“attachment_23618” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Simon Katich has blamed the selectors for many of Australia’s failings. AFP”]  [/caption] Katich has been one of Australia’s best performing batsmen over the last couple of years and his exclusion has been hammered by former players and media pundits, piling more pressure on under-fire chief selector Andrew Hilditch. Hilditch said Australia had ditched Katich, who has averaged 45.03 runs in 56 test matches, in order to develop a new opening partnership in time for the next Ashes series. “To be given the reason that the opening partnership needs to bed down for 2013 when (the opening partnership with Shane Watson) has been one of the few bright spots for Australia, I find it very hard to believe that,” Katich said. Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland later said Katich was a “fantastic player” who still had a lot to offer Australian cricket as a player, but also gave full backing to the selectors. “I can understand that he’s extremely disappointed at the news he received this week and I really do sympathise with him,” Sutherland told reporters in Melbourne. “(But) I reject any criticism of (the selection panel) in terms of the individual integrity or the collective integrity of the process they go through in making decisions about who the best … squad is for the future of Australian cricket.” ASHES DEBACLE Katich said the inconsistency of the selectors had contributed to the Ashes debacle around the turn of the year, when England won a series in Australia for the first time in 24 years. “The facts are a week or two before the Ashes, a squad of 17 was named,” he said. “Now, in my opinion, if you don’t know what your best 11 is a week or so before the biggest test series we play in, then that to me reeks of indecision. “The fact that we’ve have 10 or 11 different spinners in the last two or three years … that to me is another indication of the inconsistency in selection. “There have been so many guys looking over their shoulders worrying about whether they’d be selected,” he added. “And if you compared to how England prepared, they were settled and no surprise that they had a very good campaign.” Katich said he had been told of the decision to end his 12-year association with Cricket Australia in a four-minute telephone conversation with Hilditch on Tuesday and was convinced his age was at the heart of it. “As far back as when I was first picked for a tour in 1999, playing for Australia has always been about performance,” he said. “Now it seems that that’s changed and it’s not only about performance, it’s about potential.” Some media reports have linked a dressing room bust-up with now Australia captain Michael Clarke with Katich’s axing, while former captain Ricky Ponting and middle order batsman Mike Hussey, both 36, had won contracts. “I know there’s going to be a lot made of that,” said Katich. “We had the incident a couple of years ago, but I think we’ve both been really professional in handling that and it hasn’t been a problem since and I don’t think that’s an issue.” Reuters