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Australia's best batsman over last 2 years
Furious Test opener Simon Katich believes he was unfairly treated by Australia's selectors when he was omitted from the list of 25 contracted players for next season.
The 35-year-old's omission on Tuesday, which signalled the likely end of his Test career, has been slammed by former players and media pundits while raising more calls for the head of chief selector Andrew Hilditch.
Katich had been one of Australia's best batsmen over the last couple of years, despite being hampered by a broken thumb on last year's tour of India and an Achilles tendon injury that ended his Ashes campaign after the second Test in Adelaide.
'I have not been treated fairly'
"Do I think I have been treated fairly? Not at all, not at all," said the gritty Western Australian, who averaged 45.03 runs in 56 Test matches.
"From my point of view I have had to play through injuries in the last four Test matches, two with a broken thumb and two with a torn achilles.
"I didn't want to play Test cricket like that although I know that is what they have judged me on," he told the Australian newspaper.
'I vented my spleen about the decision'
Katich, who was told by Hilditch in 2007 that his Test career was over, did not pull his punches when the chief selector called to tell him he was not being retained on a contract for the 2011-12 season.
"It's funny, I have been treated like this before by them," Katich added. "I have been down this path a number of times.
"I spoke my mind, I certainly didn't hold back. There was no shirking the issue, but there was nothing said that was personal it was just about the decision.
"I vented my spleen about the decision and explained why. There was no name-calling or anything like that."
'I was training hard for Sri Lanka'
Katich said it was particularly frustrating after all the effort he had put into rehabilitation and training in a bid to get fit for Australia's Test season, which starts with a tour of Sri Lanka.
"Up to Tuesday I had done three weeks' training ahead of the rest of the squad starting and I did that because I wanted to be ready and firing in Sri Lanka."
The selectors said they had ditched Katich in order to bed in a new opening partnership in time for the 2013 Ashes series.
Katich will make an announcement on his future on Friday, the report said.
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