Simon Katich was one of the most dependable cricketers Australia had for a long time. He opened the innings when asked and was a handy part-time spinner in both formats of the game. He was a regular in the Aussie colors until an ankle injury in 2011-12 Ashes put him out of commission.
However, after this, he was cut from the Cricket Australia list of centrally contracted players in 2011, and Katich blamed his ouster on his tiff with then captain Michael Clarke, back in 2009.
It is said that Simon Katich had grabbed Michael Clarke by the throat and pinned him against the wall after, according to Katich, Clarke was putting too much pressure on Hussey to get on with it and get on with the night. Katich blames the altercation that happened due to some remarks Clarke made which got too personal.
Katich’s career ended with him playing for Australia in a Test for the last time in 2010 and he mentioned in October 2011, “You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that it’s not just the selectors that had a part in sending me on my way. I mean to be brutally honest obviously what happened in the dressing room here a few years ago didn’t help my cause. And obviously the captain and coach are selectors.”
Meanwhile, Clarke has always denied that he had anything to do with Katich’s career coming to an end. However, recently a caller asked him about the same thing when he appeared on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show.
“You recently made comments about Usman Khawaja and his sacking, saying that you were hoping it wasn’t made personal by selectors — isn’t that exactly what you did with Simon Katich affair?,” the caller asked.
“Incorrect. Let me tell you the truth because you’re going off what you’ve heard or what you’ve been reading in the paper. Simon and I did have an incident in the change room. But from my perspective, because I can’t talk for Simon, it was done and dealt with. We had a conversation the next day, it was dealt with,” Clarke emphatically responded to the allegations.
Clarke insisted he never once played a role in deciding contracts and was only told by selectors about a debate that involved keeping just two of three senior players.
He said, “What people don’t understand is ... because I became captain of Australia, I have no say in who gets a contract. Simon Katich was not dropped from a team when I was captain of Australia or when I was a selector.”
He says the selectors had to choose two from Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, and Simon Katich and they chose to leave out Katich.
“They were going to give contracts to two of those three players and they went with Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey ahead of Simon Katich. So his contract selection had absolutely nothing to do with me,” Clarke clarified.
He also revealed that as the captain, he had pushed for Katich’s recall during the 2013 Ashes series in England.
