Simon Katich

Simon Matthew Katich (born 21 August 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer.

However, in the second innings, Katich carried his bat through the innings; the first cricketer to do so at Test level since Mark Taylor in the late 1990s.

He made 131 not out, 48.88% of Australia's total of 268, in an innings in which the next highest score was 31 (by Mitchell Johnson batting at no. 10).

Katich's batting allowed Australia to post a victory target of 327, which it ultimately defended.

Katich was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1996.

and made his debut for the Western Australia state team in the 1996–97 season.

The following season he was a central figure in Western Australia's Sheffield Shield success, scoring an impressive 1,039 first-class runs for the season.

He was selected to tour Sri Lanka with the national team the following season but suffered greatly from illness, including a debilitating bout of chicken pox.

He recovered to contribute further for his state, highlighted in the 2000–01 domestic season where he helped himself to 1,282 first-class runs.

He later switched from Western Australia to New South Wales where he currently lives.

He played 56 Test matches for Australia from 2001 to 2011.

Katich made his Test debut in the fourth Test of the 2001 Ashes tour of England.

He failed to capitalize making only 15 and was not out 0.

In only his second match he bowled for the first time in Test cricket, and in the second innings took 6/65 against Zimbabwe at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Following Steve Waugh's retirement in 2004, Katich established himself in the Australian team.

His best Test batting performance came against India at Sydney in January 2004, when his 125 and unbeaten 77 saved Australia the Test, series, and a decade long unbeaten record at home.

Despite this, he was dropped in favour of Andrew Symonds for Australia's next Test, in Sri Lanka, when Symonds was dropped after the first two Tests, Katich was picked for the third Test and made a patient 86.

He regained his place and enjoyed a good Test series in India in October 2004, where he made good scores of 81 and 99.

His good form continued with 118 against New Zealand in March 2005.

However, he had a poor Ashes tour of England later that year batting at number 6, and after scoring only two runs in the following two Tests (against the ICC World XI and the West Indies), he was dropped from the Test side.

Katich was fined for showing dissent during the fourth Test to umpire Aleem Dar along with captain Ricky Ponting.

Since the commencement of the 2005–06 season, Katich attempted to cement his place in the Australian one day cricket side, having lost his Test place.

Australia persisted with him throughout the VB Series and in South Africa, as Katich scored runs fairly consistently.

Katich was also a member of the Australian team that won the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.

He played primarily as a left-handed opening batsman and part-time left-arm unorthodox spin bowler.

However, he struggled in the DLF Cup in September 2006; the next month he lost his place at the top of the order to Shane Watson, who impressed Ponting with some attacking displays against the West Indies and an Indian state team.

Katich was not picked in the 15 man squad to play in the World Cup in the West Indies.

Katich played a total of 45 One day Internationals.

He captained New South Wales and also, until the end of the 2007 season, Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

Katich also played for Lancashire, represented his birth state of Western Australia and played in Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab.

Selected for the 2008 Australian team's tour of India he found himself opening the batting with the injury to Phil Jaques.

He retained his spot for the home series against New Zealand.

In the first Test, at the Gabba, Brisbane, he made 10 in the first innings (in which Australia was all out for 214 on a tough batting deck).

Katich was selected for the 2009 tour to England and he played in all five Ashes Tests, scoring 341 runs in 8 innings at an average of 42.62.

Katich opened the batting with Phillip Hughes for the first two Tests at Cardiff and Lord's but Hughes was dropped for the Third Test at Edgbaston due to poor form, so Katich was then partnered by Shane Watson for the final three Tests.

This proved successful as Watson and Katich scored more runs at the top of the order than the previous Hughes-Katich combination.

Katich scored his eighth Test century in the First Test with 122.

On 12 June 2012 Katich retired from first-class cricket in Australia, but returned to play for Western Australia in 2013.

In August 2019, Katich was appointed as the head coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and was present at the 2020 IPL Player Auction in Kolkata in December 2019.

He is also a commentator for ABC Radio Grandstand and the Seven Network.