With the Test match progressing quickly and in the balance after two days it was going to take a gritty performance to swing the momentum and that came in the from Australian opener Simon Katich.
The somewhat unconventional but determined batsman occupied the crease for over five and a half hours for his tenth Test century and in doing so guided the tourists to a commanding position, “Given that the game was in the balance I didn’t want to take any undue risks and make sure that I set a platform for the rest of the team.
“When you bat at the top of the order it’s easy to think that someone else will get the runs but you just have to make sure you get out there and lay the foundations just in case that doesn’t happen.
“To get off to a good start with Watson certainly helped and then the partnership with Hussey obviously was nice to get us that base so now we can hopefully push on for a big lead and do the business,” Katich said.
His first 50 runs came from 177 deliveries with his first boundary coming off the 138th and it wasn’t just the opposition that give him a bit of ribbing, “The umpires were joking at one point when I got on a bit of a roll.
“I hit a couple of fours in an over and they were sort of joking that I might have got a bit ahead of myself but that was when I got to about 60 odd. Even they noticed it and said ‘is that the same bloke down there’. I did have a bit more fun after 50 that’s for sure, the first 50 wasn’t great but after that from 50 onwards I think I played quite well.”
It is stark contrast to the 138 Ross Taylor blasted off 104 deliveries on day two but the Australian anchor did what was required and what the BLACKCAPS batsmen have struggled to do all series – bat time.
Katich went on to get 106 off 279 deliveries and shared a 155 run partnership with Michael Hussey that broke the back of the BLACKCAPS bowling attack.
“With two days to play we have put ourselves in a really good position to set the game up and give ourselves plenty of time to bowl New Zealand out. The wicket is still good, we obviously came in to win the Test and we will continue to try and do that,” he added.
Simon Katich
Age: 34
Test matches played: 50*
Runs: 3794
Average: 46.83
100's: 10
50’s: 22
* Includes current match
