Almost two hours after his dismissal at Adelaide without facing a ball, Simon Katich was still sitting alone outside the dressing room. "He was in shock really, more than anything," said colleague Mike Hussey.

There are some batsmen who just appear unable to put international cricket's bad fortune into context while others have a different way of putting it into perspective...

Mark Ramprakash
In his autobiography, Michael Vaughan gives an insight into why Mark Ramprakash was unable to handle the unique pressure of the Test match environment. After being dismissed for another low score at Auckland on the 2002 New Zealand tour, Vaughan remembers that Ramps "just sat there in the dressing room for about two hours with his pads on, not moving or saying a thing". That would hardly fit later into the Vaughan regime of sitting on the balcony together as a team to cheer others on.

Adam Hollioake
Ramprakash recently tried to remember the moment when he became more relaxed at the start of his second life as a run machine. He thinks it began at The Oval in August 1997, when he sat in the England dressing room during the final Test with Australia and watched as his teammate, Adam Hollioake, returned after being dismissed for a duck by Shane Warne.

Warne had bowled a ball that had pitched on off-stump and gone straight. Hollioake had left it and had his bails removed. "He walked into the dressing room," Ramprakash recalls, "and the TV is on. It's showing a replay. He looked at it and went, 'Yeah, probably a bit close to leave that one'. And I thought, 'Mate, that is fantastic. What a great attitude'."

Kieron Pollard
Pollard hits the ball harder than anyone, but his short fuse has caused a few unsavoury incidents internationally. He was fined for blocking Dale Steyn's path to the ball as non-striker in a Twenty20 match this year.

On the tour to New Zealand last year, he also reacted poorly to an lbw decision won by Daniel Vettori when replays showed the batsman nicked the ball onto his pads. An angry Pollard broke a window pane and dented a door in the players' tunnel with his bat as he returned to the dressing room.

Of course, Pollard has left himself open to mercenary allegations, raking it in from his Twenty20 exploits but contributing little value on the real international stage.

Geraint Jones
Geraint Jones was mercilessly sledged by Australia during the 2006 Ashes series, so much so that it really got to him in the Test match at Perth. In England's second innings, Jones's foot stayed out of his crease as he waited for the umpire to give an lbw decision and Ricky Ponting's shy at silly point hit the stumps. The Kent wicket keeper ended up with an ignominious pair.

"'When I'm relaxed and enjoying it, I play my best cricket, but as soon as I do get that bit tense and uptight, then things don't go well. You can get into a siege mentality so you have to find real ways of relaxing. Luckily in Melbourne there are plenty of places where you can go and hide yourself." Jones has not been seen on a Test match pitch since...

Andrew Strauss
When the now England captain was dropped for the Sri Lanka tour in 2007, it was clear he was not at peace with some of the umpiring in the previous 12 months: "In truth it is the culmination of a long, tiring and immensely frustrating 12 months in which little has gone my way," Strauss wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. "I have been a victim of some poor umpiring decisions, some unfortunate dismissals and a few incredibly good balls delivered at just the wrong moment."

Such self-pity placed question marks about his ability to fight back, but a career-saving 177 at Napier was the platform for a resurrection that England is now reaping the benefit of.

Shahid Afridi
Afridi's relationship with Test match cricket has always been an uncomfortable one, despite a decent batting average. His latest escapade lasted only one match as skipper in the series against Australia in the summer.

"My temperament is not good enough for Test cricket," suggested Afridi.

"What do you mean by that?" asked a UK tabloid reporter. "Is it that you just can't stop yourself trying to hit sixes?"

"I... ahh... yeah. You're right." Afridi replied, with refreshing honesty before he fell upon his sword after a wild swing down Mike Hussey's throat at Lord's.

Tim Ellis