Australian duo admit to bust-up
Simon Katich fell-out with Michael Clarke
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Thursday, 05, Feb 2009 10:18
Australian duo Michael Clarke and Simon Katich have admitted they were involved in a dressing room altercation.
Reports in the Australian media claimed that the pair were involved in a brawl after the Sydney Test win over South Africa last month, with Katich grabbing Clarke by the throat and that team-mates were forced to separate them.
The disagreement allegedly stemmed from the signing of the team song with Clarke wanting to get it done as soon as possible so he could leave to be with his fiancée. But the signing didn't get started until midnight.
"Yes, we had a disagreement after the Sydney Test," Clarke told the Herald Sun. "This kind of thing occasionally happens in cricket teams.
"We didn't see eye to eye on that night, but we have been teammates at NSW and Australia a long time. We've spoken since, including catching up the other night at the Allan Border Medal. There's no issue between us."
Katich added: "I've spoken to Michael as recently as today and we're both big enough and old enough to have moved on from this."
This latest controversy just adds to the problems the Australian team have been experiencing on and off the field.
They were recently comprehensively beaten by South Africa in both the Test series and one-day series. Ricky Ponting's men also lost the first one-dayer in their five match series against New Zealand on Sunday.
There is also serious doubt over the future of key all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who has had problems in his personal life and was left out of the series' against South Africa and New Zealand.