Simon Katich: Eight facts about the Australian all-rounder

Simon Katich, born on August 21, 1975, is an Australian left-handed batsman and a slow left arm chinaman, who scored 4188 runs in 56 Tests at a more than healthy average of 45.03 picking up 21 wickets. His One-Day Internationals (ODI) record is not bad either; he managed to amass 1,324 runs in 45 ODIs at an average of 35.78. Someone who many reckoned was the ‘man of all seasons’ for Australia.  Ankit Banerjee has more on Katich.

1.  Footie

Simon Katich went on from being an Australian Baggy Green holder to operations manager for another sport that he loved equally, Australian Rules football. He joined the new Australian Football League (AFL) club Great Western Sydney Giants as a message runner for the chief coach.

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2.  Six-for

 His main role in the teams he played for over the years was of being a batsman, one of his best outings was with the ball came when he captured six for 65 against Zimbabwe in a Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 2003.

3.  Scuffle with Clarke

The summer of 2009 proved to be bitter for Katich. He had a dressing room bust-up with Michael Clarke post the Sydney Test against the Proteas. The two players had to be separated after an altercation regarding something as trivial as singing the team song. While the repercussions of the incident weren’t felt right then, but it is believed he was hit when Clarke went on to take over from Ricky Ponting.

  4.  Kat and mouse fight

During the third Test between India and Australia in 2008 at the Ferozshah Kotla ground, Simon Katich and Gautam Gambhir got into a ‘cat and mouse’ fight. They lingered around each other, they fumed, they spewed venom at each other and before umpire Billy Bowden intervened. VVS Laxman had gently punched an over-pitched ball to long off, he set off for a run, but Gambhir could not as Katich was on his way. Gambhir questioned Katich on spirit and they refused to stop finally Michael Clarke and Bowden had to intervene.

5. Adventurist at heart

Katich loves to explore newer avenues and is a total adventurist at heart. He does boat rafting, cliff diving, rock climbing among many other adventures he usually indulges in.

 6.  Gallons in domestic-kitty

Katich has scored more than 20,000 First-Class runs in 264 matches, including 57 tons.

7.  Kaptan Katich

Katich is a former captain of the New South Wales Blues. He also led, up until the end of the 2007 season, Derbyshire.

8.  Golden year 2009-10

It is believed that a cricketer plays his best cricket when he is touching 300 or a tad bit on the other side. So was the case with Katich. He held the New South Wales Blues to the inaugural Champions League T20 title in 2009-10, a season in which he recorded three nineties- 92, 98 and 99- in Tests and a hundred against Pakistan at Hobart.

(A cricket geek to the tee, Ankit Banerjee smokes and snorts it all day long. The romance with the sport incepted since the 1996 World Cup semi-final. He is a winner of the 2011 edition of the All-India college cricket quiz.)