Katich-Clarke not first instance of Aussie infighting

Simon Katich accusing Michael Clarke of playing a role in removing him from the list of Cricket Australia contracts is not the first instance of infighting in Australia's cricket set-up.

Katich-Clarke not first instance of Aussie infighting

Simon Katich accusing Michael Clarke of playing a role in removing him from the list of Cricket Australia contracts is not the first instance of infighting in Australia's cricket set-up. Katich, who had earlier denied that his dressing room spat with Clarke after the Sydney Test against South Africa in 2009 had anything to do with the axe, did a u-turn recently and said that the incident played a significant part.

Hughes after Australia's loss at The Oval in 1981. Pic/Getty Images

MiD DAY recalls some feuds:

Clarke vs Symonds
In December 2009, Symonds revealed that his long-time friendship with Clarke was over in the wake of his tumultuous ouster from Australian cricket. Clarke and Symonds had forged a strong friendship after Australia's tour to Bangladesh in 2006. However, all that changed when Clarke was part of the leadership group that sent Symonds home for going fishing during a training camp in Darwin in 2008.

Warne (left) with Buchanan in 2004

Lillee vs Hughes
According to Christian Ryan's book 'Golden Boy', a biography of former Australian captain Kim Hughes, problems began to emerge in the Australian team after a young Hughes was chosen to succeed Greg Chappell ahead of vice-captain, Rodney Marsh in the early 1980s. Ryan revealed that Marsh was hurt, and his friend Dennis Lillee maintained the rage on his behalf. Geoff Lawson once wrote: "Lillee nearly broke Hughes' arm in the nets."

Marsh vs Hughes
Wicketkeeper-batsman Marsh lost the captaincy race to Hughes on three different occasions. Firstly before the 1981 Ashes when Greg Chappell pulled out of captaincy due to personal reasons. Hughes was reappointed captain after Chappell permanently relinquished the captaincy in 1982-83. After players like Dennis Lillee and David Hookes publicly asked for Marsh to take charge, once again, the Australian Cricket Board voted 8-6 to appoint Hughes as captain for the 1982-83 series in Pakistan. According to Christian Ryan's book, "while Marsh did not have the armoury to intimidate Hughes in the nets, he made his feelings known with equal lack of
subtlety on the field."

Warne vs Waugh
Steve Waugh finished with 10,927 runs at an average of 51.06 when he hung his boots at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2004. And yet, he was ranked 26, behind Darren Lehmann, David Boon and Stephen Fleming, in 'Shane Warne's Century' -- a book that listed top 100 players the leggie had played with, or against. During the tour of West Indies in 1999, Waugh made a controversial decision to drop Warne for the final Test at Antigua.u00a0

Warne openly admitted in 'My Autobiography' that he was hurt to discover that Waugh succeeded Mark Taylor as captain, and not him. In 'Shane Warne's Century', he wrote that Waugh was a match-saver rather than a match-winner and "there were times when he struggled against the short ball". On his captaincy, Warne felt: "Waugh took a more conservative approach, and he wasn't a big risk taker."

Warne vs Buchanan
It all started when Buchanan called Warne "overweight" during the 2001 tour to India. In September 2006, few months before the Ashes, Warne opened up a debate when he said that Australia could do without a coach. In December 2007, Warne told Herald Sun that Buchanan was "a goose with verbal diarrhoea." He spoke about disagreeing with Buchanan all the time as a player. Once again during the first IPL, he ridiculed Buchanan's multiple-captain theory.
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In his book 'The Future of Cricket', Buchanan devoted a chapter to their soured relationship . "It would seem at times he does not put the same thought into these comments as he would in extracting batsmen from the crease,"u00a0 he wrote.