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Ponting backs Katich’s parting shot

Ponting, who retained his contract for the 2011-12 season despite a poor run of form, said he was shocked that 35-year-old Katich had been ditched despite being one of Australia’s best-performing batsmen.

“It’s fair to say he didn’t hold back in his press conference and rightly so as well,” Ponting told Nine Network television late on Thursday.

“To be omitted from the contract list was a great shock to him. It was a shock to me.

“His performance in the last two or three years has been as good as anybody in the world,” the 36-year-old added.

Katich last week said the reason given for his axing, that Australia needed to bed in a new opening partnership for the 2013 Ashes series, was “absolutely ridiculous” and hammered the selectors for “inconsistent” decisions.

Ponting, who stood down as captain after Australia’s humiliating Ashes defeat and quarter-final exit at the World Cup, said he would have liked to have another “old bloke’ in the Australia team along with middle order batsman Mike Hussey. “It puts us 36 year-olds on notice now, Mike Hussey and myself,” he laughed. “It’s going to make us work that little bit harder.”