was picked for the third Test and made a patient 86. He regained his place and enjoyed a good Test series in India in October 2004, where he made good scores of 81 and 99. His good form continued with 118 against New Zealand in March 2005. However, he had a poor Ashes tour of England later that year batting at number 6, and after scoring only two runs in the following two Tests (against the ICC World XI and the West Indies), he was dropped from the Test side. Katich was fined for showing dissent during the fourth Test to umpire Aleem Dar along with captain Ricky Ponting. Since the commencement of the 2005–06 season, Katich attempted to cement his place in the Australian one day cricket side, having lost his Test place. Australia persisted with him throughout the VB Series and in South Africa, as Katich scored runs fairly consistently. However, he struggled in the DLF Cup in September 2006; the next month he lost his place at the top of the order to Shane Watson, who impressed Ponting with some attacking displays against the West Indies and an Indian state team. Katich was not picked in the 15 man squad to play in the World Cup in the West Indies. Katich played a total of 45 One day Internationals. Selected for the 2008 Australian team's tour of India he found himself opening the batting with the injury to Phil Jaques. He retained his spot for the home series against New Zealand. In the first Test, at the Gabba, Brisbane, he made 10 in the first innings (in which Australia was all out for 214 on a tough batting deck). However, in the second innings, Katich carried his bat through the innings; the first cricketer to do so at Test level since Mark Taylor in the late 1990s. He made 131 not out, 48.88% of Australia's total of 268, in an innings in which the next highest score was 31 (by Mitchell Johnson batting at no. 10). Katich's batting allowed Australia to post a victory target of 327, which it ultimately defended. Katich was selected for the 2009 tour to England and he played in all five Ashes Tests, scoring 341 runs in 8 innings at an average of 42.62. Katich opened the batting with Phillip Hughes for the first two Tests at Cardiff and Lord's but Hughes