Melbourne, June 16 (IANS) Australia's veteran leg-spinner Bryce McGain, who was discarded after playing a Test, feels the axeing of Test batsman Simon Katich shows the "blatant ageism" by Cricket Australia (CA).

McGain, who was one of the 10 spinners tried by selectors after the retirement of Shane Warne, said the decisions taken by the selection panel headed by Andrew Hilditch were inconsistent.

"There are two things that I find astonishing with regards to the axeing of Simon Katich from the Australian contracted players list: the organisation's level of professionalism and its blatant ageism," McGain wrote in a column for The Drum.

"The rotation of spinners … is another example of the panel's uncertainty."

McGain termed the Katich decision as "unfathomable" and the current selection processes as "indefensible".

"The Australian cricket team is not an AFL, NRL, or rugby team. No salary cap, no draft, no other artificial competition restrictions with the objective to creating an even competition, so therefore no performance cycles, no rebuilding cycles or youth policies required - just a simple pinnacle of the best 11 players from all the 550,000 cricket participants in Australia.

"The Australian cricket team is simply about playing the best players who are in form and for Simon Katich not to be acknowledged in the best 25 cricketers in our nation is unfathomable."