The rock among the sandcastles
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Continuing his run of form since being recalled to the side earlier this year, Simon Katich became the first Australian to carry his bat in a Test for more than a decade and set Australia on the path towards victory against New Zealand at the Gabba. In the Sun-Herald, Peter Roebuck salutes Katich's innings and calls it the difference between two ordinary batting sides performing poorly on an improving deck. Cautious batsmen, says Roebuck, are appreciated in recessions, economic and cricketing.
Nothing Katich does at the crease catches the eye. He shuffles around like a minister without a portfolio. He has the grace of a bulldog. His bottom hand features strongly in all his shots. His batting is full of punches, clubs, clouts and carves. But there is a reassuring practicality about his work - and it is work, not play. He is built for reliability not speed, comfort not flash. The whole is greater than the parts.
Over in the Sunday Herald Sun, Robert Craddock says that you can tell how Australian cricket is travelling by what you might call the Simon Katich Index.
When the team was flying, Australia's selectors did everything they could not to pick Katich. For the selectors, ringing Katich was like ringing your dentist - you only called him when you absolutely had to and even then you never really looked forward to seeing him in operation. Their philosophy was that when you had a few Ferraris in the shed, why do you need an old-fashioned Jeep - and it was the right thinking for the time. Grit was seen as glamourless and expendable.
Jamie Alter is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo