Test opening batsman Simon Katich has been stabbed in the back and "appallingly hung" in being dumped from Cricket Australia's 2011-12 contract list, former greats said in reports Thursday. Katich was the notable omission when the list of CA's contracted players for next season was released on Tuesday, effectively ending the 56-Test batsman's international career.
Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said his panel felt it was time to forge a new opening partnership ahead of the next Ashes series against England in two years' time, and there was now no room for 35-year-old Katich. But the decision outraged former players and cricket writers.
"If his replacement came in scoring hundreds and was red hot, then I can understand an injury stopping someone in their mid-30s," television pundit and former Test opener Michael Slater told the Daily Telegraph. Bob Simpson, who returned to cricket at the age of 41 to captain Australia during the World Series crisis in the 1970s, said he was shocked by Katich's axing. Former Test batsman Mark Waugh said he found Katich's demise a hard decision to comprehend. Veteran cricket writer Malcolm Conn said Katich had been betrayed by the selectors.
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