Former Australian batsman Simon Katich has opened up on his fractured relationship with former teammate Michael Clarke.
Their long-running feud was sparked by an infamous incident in the SCG changerooms in 2009.
It escalated further when Clarke was deemed to have played a part in Katich not receiving a Cricket Australia contract in 2011, which ultimately ended his international career.
When asked on This Is Your Sporting Life to describe his relationship with Clarke, Katich replied: "It's non-existent.
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“I always had the upmost respect for Michael as a teammate and as a player, he was a phenomenal player, we spent a lot of time at the crease together, both for New South Wales and Australia.
“He was a magnificent player, but unfortunately the end of my career coincided with him taking over the captaincy and I understand that’s the way it panned out.”
After becoming a permanent fixture at the top of the order for Australia, Katich explained why he feels aggrieved with the decision not to be awarded a national contract.
“At the time I was very upset because for those three years from 2008-2010, I think I was told by one of the journos that only two guys in world cricket had scored more runs than me in that period – one was the great Sachin Tendulkar and the other one was Alastair Cook at the height of his game,” he added.
“That was probably the most disappointment that I felt I had earned my spot in the team over three really consistent years – I think had averaged over 50 opening the batting for Australia in those 30-odd Tests that I played.”
After a distinguished Test career that included 4188 runs at an average of over 45 with 10 centuries, Katich feels grateful for being given the opportunity to play as much as he did for his country.
“I look back on it now and maybe it was meant to be that way – I’ve certainly got no regrets,” Katich said.
“It would have been nice to play more Test for Australia, but that’s the way it was, and I also feel very lucky that I was able to play 56, because there were plenty of very good players in the era that didn’t get to play one Test for Australia.”
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Listen to Simon Katich’s chat on This Is Your Sporting Life with Peter Donegan in the player below