Katich to leave Derbyshire
Katich was dropped by the Australian selectors after the 2005 Ashes
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Tuesday, 04, Sep 2007 02:38
Derbyshire county cricket club have announced that captain Simon Katich intends to leave at the end of the season in a bid to be selected for Australia.
The 32-year-old has admitted he is suffering from the fatigue of playing for Derbyshire this summer immediately after a full season down under playing for Australian provincial side New South Wales.
And Katich said that while the decision to quit the County Ground had been "difficult" he had chosen to turn his attention to winning back his place in the Australian international side, a task which requires him to return to his homeland.
"I have thought long and hard about this decision," he said.
"I have never played two back-to-back full seasons of county cricket and being captain of both sides would make it very difficult because you can't keep going at 100 per cent the whole time."
Katich has averaged over 75 this season and scored almost 1,300 runs in county cricket – making him one of the top-rated players in the country in 2007.
And Derbyshire head of cricket John Morris said that while his presence would be greatly missed, he understood the choice Katich has had to make.
"I am obviously disappointed that Simon feels unable to come back next year due to the fact that he still has ambitions to play for Australia," Morris said.
"As I have said before, I would have loved the opportunity to work with Simon next year as I know how good a player he is.
"He has never returned to England for a back-to-back second term with any of the other counties that he has represented in the past.
"Simon feels that if he is to achieve his ambition to one day play for Australia again, he needs to commit his future to New South Wales.
"We at Derbyshire County Cricket Club have made a financial offer to Simon that I am sure was very attractive, but I have to respect that his decision is not financial but is purely to do with his own ambitions as an Australian player."