SIMON KATICH fears he may never play Test cricket again after being axed for the second time in nine months.
The 2003 Hampshire player of the year - who returned to the Rose Bowl for a month-long stint last summer - admits he is "gutted" after being dropped from the Australia squad for the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba, which starts on Thursday.
"The thought of not making it back runs through your mind," Katich said.
"You can't help but think, 'What if the guys play really well for the next 12 months and don't put a foot wrong?'
"They are certainly capable of doing that."
Katich returned from his maiden tour of India last month, scoring 276 runs in the four-Test series at a creditable 39.42.
Only Michael Clarke (400 at 57.14) and Damien Martyn (444 at 50.34) scored more or averaged more than Katich.
Katich was one short of a century in the third Test win at Nagpur, but ended the series with seven and one in the low-scoring loss at Mumbai.
Despite his overall form and average, the selectors have recalled 34-year-old Darren Lehmann and kept faith with another ex-Hampshire star, Clarke, for this week's Test.
"When 'Punter' (Australia captain Ricky Ponting) was injured, I knew it presented an opportunity to Michael Clarke and there was talk he couldn't be dropped after the series he's had in India," said Katich.
"Because of what happed last time (when Katich was dropped in Sri Lanka earlier this year), I might have been a bit paranoid or sceptical - but that's what happens when you've been dropped before.
"The first time, I couldn't have been playing any better. To be dropped in Sri Lanka (after scoring 125 and 80 in his previous Test against India in Sydney), I was really stung by it.
"I didn't say too much, I just listened."
But privately, Katich was hurting and he admitted that his feelings are similar this time around.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't initially angry," he said.
"I'm generally a pretty placid sort of a person but I've got a bit of fire in me - maybe it's my Croatian blood - and every now and again it comes out. Overall, I have handled it pretty well. I've got on with things. Up until now I've kept pretty quiet."
Katich has been criticised for his undemonstrative demeanour, which some believe is the main reason why the selectors have dropped him so unexpectedly.
"I've been too nice," he said.
"But when you are seen as Mr. Nice Guy, at some stage that's got to change.
"When you get dropped, it feels like you're not being backed. I might be wrong, but you do feel like that every now and then.
"Maybe they (the Test selectors) don't think I'm up to it, but I feel that's not the case because of what has been said by everyone in the press."
Former Australia opening batsman Michael Slater and England captain Tony Greig have called for Katich to be reinstated by the selectors.
Katich currently averages 41.10 from his 13 Tests.
In 2003 he was by far and away Hampshire's top batsmen, averaging 60.15 in first-class cricket with four tons and six half-centuries.
He also scored two centuries and six fifties in topping the National League averages with 42.82.
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