da spicy bet： The Ashes have not been kind to Simon Katich
da pixbet： Alex Brown20-May-2009The Ashes have not been kind to Simon Katich. After posting a modest 15 on debut at Headingley in 2001, he was cut adrift from the Australian side for more than two years. And following a 2005 campaign in which a series of poor umpiring decisions eroded already fragile confidence, Katich survived just two more Tests before selectors again banished him to the first-class wilderness for a further 30 months.A less redoubtable personality might have relented after the latter episode, particularly as it coincided with the additional body blow of the loss of a central contract. But Katich is no such wallflower. Rather than bemoan his misfortune, he used the disappointment of 2005 as the catalyst to improve technique and temperament, and now stands poised to return to the Ashes fray in the relatively new role of opener.”I guess I look at someone like Justin Langer – I remember on the 2001 tour that I was on, he missed out, and I remember him thinking at the time that that was it for him,” Katich told . “He managed to reinvent himself and become a great opener. Given that he had batted at No. 3 pretty much most of his first-class career, I guess we’re very similar in that regard. I batted pretty much my whole career at No. 3 and have now managed to get a chance opening the batting.”It’s probably been a bit of luck really, because I wouldn’t have played in the West Indies if Matty Hayden hadn’t have been injured and then obviously when Phil Jaques got injured the opportunities were both at the top of the order. It was a bit of luck and it probably helped me that I batted at the top of the order for so long in my career.”Luck had little to do with it. A day after Katich learned of his delisting by Cricket Australia, he plundered 221 for Derbyshire. And if that signal of intent was not clear enough, he followed with a record-breaking domestic season for New South Wales, during which he compiled an astonishing 1,506 runs at 94.12. The selectors, who had cut him at the age of 31, had little choice but to re-evaluate his case for national selection.A year has passed since his Test recall in the Caribbean, and Katich, perhaps for the first time, feels at ease with his place in the side. His last 15 Tests have netted 1,389 runs at an impressive 53.42, including five centuries – as opposed to his 1,260 runs in his previous 23 appearances – and his combination with Phillip Hughes in South Africa provided Australia with a solid platform from which to launch their successful riposte to the home series defeat.Unlike Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee and Michael Clarke, Katich was not afforded the opportunity to exorcise the demons of 2005 in Australia’s ensuing 5-0 Ashes victory on home soil. And while he insisted redemption was not foremost on his mind ahead of the tour of England, Katich did concede extra sentiment would be attached to this series.”I don’t actually sit and think about [the 2005 Ashes] too often,” he said. “So much has changed since then. I guess the only thing that does stick out is in that last Test at The Oval, even on that last day I still thought we were a chance to break even and get back to 2-all in the series. But England played well and deserved to win it.”Obviously it was disappointing to lose last time and to play the way I did. I think going into this series, it is totally different for me as well because of the fact I’m playing a totally different role, opening the batting, which I’m comfortable with, given that I’ve always pretty much batted at the top of the order in first-class cricket. Even though I hadn’t opened a lot I have gotten used to it, and I quite enjoy getting out there straight away now and knowing where I’m batting, rather than sitting around and waiting. I’m looking forward to hopefully having an impact compared to last time.”I feel settled, but I also feel that in the last couple of years the hard work I did on my game when I was out of the team has started to pay off. I knew that when I was dropped I wasn’t playing well enough and I knew I had to make improvements if I was going to get back to playing international cricket – not only volume of runs but also work on those areas that were costing me in the 2005 Ashes. It has helped me to become more consistent and keep making runs at that level. I know this will be a tough series, but I also go in with the confidence that I know I’ve been playing well the last year in Test cricket.”Katich’s role in England will not be confined to batting. A reluctant left-arm wrist-spinner, Katich is now prepared to answer Ponting’s call and lend slow-bowling support where required, as he did in the latter stages of the South Africa tour.In that series, Katich, 33, surprised even himself by claiming five wickets at 10.80 in the final two Test matches. His performance in Cape Town was all the more notable for its contrast with Bryce McGain, who could scarcely keep the ball within the Newlands precinct in the face of AB de Villiers’ brutal onslaught. The spell proved an awakening for both Ponting and Katich, and the latter has spent much of his time in the IPL working on his wrist-spin in the nets.”There are no mystery balls,” he quipped. “When you bowl full tosses and half-trackers and the odd good ball, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. I’ve just been keeping it simple really – bowling plenty of leggies and the odd wrong’un here and there and just practising getting my action as consistent as possible.”Since the Indian trip both Ricky and Tim Nielsen have wanted me to bowl lots in the nets and I’ve been doing that throughout the summer. That has varied depending on how much we’ve been playing and how I’ve been pulling up, but of late I’ve been doing quite a bit of bowling in the nets here in South Africa and I am continuing to do that. The body feels good, and I know I really enjoyed the opportunity to have a crack at the tail in South Africa. It’s always a bit of an advantage as a spinner to get a crack at the tail, particularly if they can’t pick your wrong’un. That worked to my advantage.”Around the time of Katich’s infamous verbal tirade at Trent Bridge in 2005 – an incident that followed a dreadful lbw decision on 59 to Steve Harmison, and sent Australia spiralling towards a series-deciding defeat – Hughes was completing his Year 10 certificate at Macksville High School on the north coast of New South Wales. The comparison amuses Katich, the battle-scarred veteran, whose trials and tribulations at Test level contrast sharply with those of the free-scoring Hughes to date.”The thing that he’s got going for him is that he’s got a great temperament,” Katich said. “Nothing seems to faze him. Even after he got that duck [on debut in Johannesburg], he was disappointed but he didn’t sit around and mope or anything. That’s the beauty of the way he plays – he trusts his game, he knows it really well and he sticks to it. As much as people will look at him and think that he looks unique, he knows how he plays. He’s been making a lot of runs for a long time and he’s now just showing it at first class and Test level. I’m sure that he’s going to have a great career.”He doesn’t say much. He gets in and gets the job done. The thing about the South African series was that their bowling attack is as good as we’ll face in terms of quicks going around. They had four good quick options … and a spinner who did a good job for them. He came up against as good as an opponent as he’ll get early in his career and he came out of it with flying colours – because he’s very talented and because he is so combative.”
