Peter Lalor, in the Weekend Australian, 29-30October 20111, with different title
SIMON Katich has hit out at Michael Clarke, claiming the Australia captain was responsible for him losing his contract, and said he believed he would never play for Australia while the new skipper was a selector. The prolific opener traced his downfall to a dressing room clash with his teammate in 2009. Katich, axed from the national team in June despite being one of its best performed batsman, also slammed Cricket Australia. Katich scored 110 for NSW at the SCG yesterday and returned to the dressing room to hear that the new chairman of selectors, John Inverarity, had said the door was not closed on his Test future. “It’s pleasing to hear, but you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that it is not just the selectors that had a part in sending me on my way, so that is one of those things,” Katich said. Asked what he meant, he referred to an incident in the same dressing rooms after a Test against South Africa when he grabbed Clarke by the throat in a late-night incident. Continue reading







ICC reveals spineless greed on issue of Test play-offs
Gideon Haigh, in the Weekend Australian, 29-30 October 2011 with different title… Gideon Haigh is one of Australia’s best sports writers and has expertise in financial analysis as well. He has now joined the Weekend Australian’s columns and must be listened to avidly. Web Editor.
Their recent decision to welch on playoffs for the World Test Championship is perhaps their most destructive move yet. Destructive and also instructive: because it demonstrates how far the game’s welfare now falls behind self-interest and short-term financial expediency as a governance priority.
At their July annual meeting inHong Kong, the executive board of the International Cricket Council, on which Cricket Australia’s representative was its chairman Jack Clarke, agreed to advance plans for playoffs to the World Test Championship: semi-finals and a final among the top four ranked countries. It was welcomed as a much-needed innovation: a chance to contextualise the game’s most skilful and historic format, and enrich it with a finale worth the name. Continue reading →
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