Katich should be remembered as one of best Oz Test openers: Waugh

Sydney, Jun 13 (ANI): Australian batting great Mark Waugh has said Simon Katich should be remembered as one of the country's best Test openers.

Turning 37 next month and currently playing with Hampshire in the English County competition, Katich said prioritising his young family was the reason for his retirement.

However, he will appear for the Perth Scorchers in the Champions League Twenty20 in October and appears likely to play on in the Big Bash tournament next summer and possibly again for Hampshire in the next county season.

Katich was controversially axed from the Test side last year before being stripped of the NSW captaincy.

"He's got a very good record both at first-class and Test level at the top of the order, so he should be remembered as one of our best players. He was definitely unlucky. I don't think he should have got dropped. His record was better than a few of the guys that were in that team ahead of him," Waugh told AAP.

"I think it was his age and maybe because he's unfashionable, maybe that's the reason he did get dropped. If you go purely on statistics he should not have got dropped when he did, he was our most consistent player at the top of the order and his previous couple of years were outstanding," he said.

Waugh was part of the Test team at Headingley when Katich made his debut against England in 2001, and said the West Australian was the ideal teammate, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. (ANI)