Apart from suffering a debilitating mystery illness in 1999, there has been very little to disrupt the career of Simon Katich. Ever since he was included in Western Australia's state squad in 1994-95, on the back of a brilliant innings of 73 in Perth's first-grade final the previous season, he always looked destined for bigger things. Katich is a left-hander blessed with a very good eye and the rich sense of timing that distinguishes the sport's more gifted batsmen.

His ability to work the ball into gaps and discipline himself to play long innings is also supreme. His talents were on show when he took the Australian domestic scene by storm during the 1998-99 season, amassing 1039 first-class runs (115 of them coming in the Sheffield Shield Final); assuming a central role in Western Australia's Sheffield Shield title success; and earning a berth in the Australian party to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Katich was on the brink of a call-up to the Test side in Sri Lanka when he contracted chicken pox and was quarantined. For a long period he was unable to free himself of a virus that overcame him in the wake of that illness, and was forced to sit out much of the 1999-2000 domestic summer at home.

A tremendous opening season in county cricket with Durham in 2000 soon had his career ascending again. He followed it with another stellar summer in Australia in 2000-01, amassing a century against each of the other five states on the way to a total of 1282 first-class runs. He was rewarded with a berth on the 2001 Ashes tour, and replaced the injured Steve Waugh for
the fourth Test. After making 15 and 0 on debut at Headingley he had to wait two years before getting an opportunity against Zimbabwe, where his left-arm chinaman bowling was surprisingly effective. He took 6 for 65 in the second innings of the second Test in Sydney, now his home after switching to New South Wales. Returning to the SCG later in the summer against India, he registered his maiden Test century and helped to ensure Steve Waugh's final match ended in a draw instead of a loss.

Dropped for the first two Tests in Sri Lanka in 2004, he was elevated to Ricky Ponting's place at No. 3 in India in October and played with an eery calmness. The highlight and lowlight came in the same innings, his 99 in the third-Test victory at Nagpur.