OTD | Simon Katich, one of the finest batsmen for Australia was born in 1975

On this day in 1975, Simon Katich was born in Middle Swan, Western Australia. In the years to come, he would go on to become one of the finest Australian batters of all time. In 1996, he was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy Scholarship holder. The very next season in the Sheffield Shield, he amassed 1039 runs. As fate wrote a bad story, Katich couldn’t tour Sri Lanka due to chicken pox.

Simon continued to score a truckload of runs. In the Sheffield Shield 2001-02 season, he smashed 1282 runs. He got a chance to debut for Australia against England. On the 21st of January 2001, Katich made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe. In Tests, the Southpaw made his debut on the 16th August 2001 against England. He was one of the earliest T20 players for Australia when he debuted on the 17th of February 2005 against New Zealand.

In his cricket career, Simon represented many teams like Yorkshire, New South Wales, Durham, Derbyshire, Hampshire, Punjab Kings, Perth Scorchers, and so on. But his stint with Australia, especially in the longest format of the game, was memorable. He played 56 Tests and 45 ODIs for Australia. While his ODI career wasn’t that impressive, Katich was a great opener for Australia in Tests.

In 56 Tests, Katich scored 4188 runs at a batting average of 45.03 including 10 hundreds and 25 fifties. Whenever required, Katich was handy as a chinaman spinner. He claimed 21 wickets at an average of 30.23 as a bowler. In ODIs, Simon scored 1324 runs at a batting average of 35.78 which included a hundred and nine fifties. Katich had a brilliant record in first-class cricket.

In 266 matches, he scored 20926 runs at an incredible batting average of 52.84 which included 58 hundreds and 111 fifties. Katich has coached IPL teams like KKR, RCB, and SRH. Katich retired from Tests in December 2010 after his home Ashes in England. He played his last ODI against West Indies in September 2006.

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