Usually associated with the sub-continent cricketers, the verbal spat between Simon Katich and the Australian cricket board and the captain Michael Clarke is taking ridiculous proportions. And for once, one believes that the Cricket Australia has got it right in taking Katich to task and preventing this from blowing into a full-grown circus.
Katich’s sacking would have come as a surprise to most. Statistics have been bandied around far too often to prove that he was one of the best batsmen that Australia had had leading up to his axing. However, for those of us who are not party to the inside-dressing room shenanigans, what is to prove that Katich was indeed a team-man? Does an instance where Katich wanted to sing the Australian victory song before Clarke wanted, make him to be a wanted man in the dressing room?
We would never know what equation did Katich had with the rest of his teammates and while admittedly, his cricket record is unblemished in Test cricket, this off-field equation could have been a huge determining factor.
Katich’s outpour of frustration in the press conference three days after this news, was both, understanding and necessary. Far too often, the cricketers had shackled by the contractual obligations and restrain from making too many adverse comments about their own feeling – thus denying the public from understanding what they actually think of the sacking. Katich had taken a couple of days to compose himself before he tore the cricket board apart with his pointed attack in that press conference.
At times, it looked like he was playing to the galleries but at 36, knowing that his Test match career was on the verge of ending, it could be attributed to the seething frustration at being pushed out. Interestingly, the Cricket Australia could have taken him to task for speaking against his employers – given that there were still 20 days to go for his contract to end – but they chose to let the matter die a natural death.
The support Katich got was also immense. And yet, when asked about Clarke’s and the throat-grabbing incident’s role in his axing, Katich had denied the claims, saying that the two had a perfectly professional relationship.
Now, more than four months on, Katich has contradicted his own stance by blaming Clarke for his sacking. He said that till Clarke was the captain of the side, he may not make his way back to the side, indicating that it was Clarke who had made that call to give him the boot.
This, to me, was both unnecessary and ran the risk of Katich being labelled as a bitter man. This is also why it would be good from Cricket Australia to not only reprimand him but also counsel such loose cannons who hold the potential to disjoint the cricket further in Australia.
Time to then move on Katich…