It is a measure of Graham Thorpe’s ability that he managed to achieve 100 Test match caps despite emerging from one of the toughest times in English cricket.
Left-handed batsmen are often described as ‘stylish’ or ‘hard-witted’ but Thorpe, whose death was announced on Monday at the age of 55, somehow England Successfully joined the team.
They have their Test Began his career in 1993 with a century in the Ashes series and retired 12 years later after playing 99 matches.
England did not win an Ashes series in the 1990s, but Thorpe did better overall against Australia than his career average (45.74 against 44.66).
But following the collapse of his first marriage, depression and separation from his children, Thorpe took an indefinite break from cricket in 2002.
He wrote in his autobiography ‘Rising from the Ashes’: ‘There was a time when I could have returned all my Test runs and Test caps to be happy again.’
Former England team-mate Michael Atherton once wrote: ‘Of all the players I played with, (Thorpe) was the man whose state of mind affected his game the most.
‘Graham Thorpe was a world-class player and his presence was an asset to any team. If something was eating away at them off the field, they can’t forget it and focus on their cricket.’
Despite this, Thorpe had a happy second marriage and made a successful return to the Test field.
Born on 1 August 1969 in Farnham, Surrey, Thorpe was a gifted cricketer and footballer at his school.
But it was cricket that made him famous and on his first-class debut against Leicestershire, England’s best left-arm batsman at the time dismissed the previous generation’s batsman, when Thorpe produced his rare The medium pace bowling used took the wicket of David Gower.
On his Test debut during the third match of the 1993 Ashes series against Australia at Trent Bridge, Thorpe scored 114 in the second innings and became the first England player to score a century on debut since Frank Hayes 20 years earlier. were
One of the criticisms leveled at Thorpe was that a man who scored half-centuries on 55 occasions in Test cricket should have scored more than 16 centuries.
Memorable Centuries
But many of those centuries were memorable, whether it was his maiden overseas century for England against Australia in Perth in 1995 on the infamous fastest pitch or West Indies greats Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh’s in Barbados in 2004. An unbeaten innings of 119 runs against
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
In 2002, a brilliant innings of 200 not out was played in Christchurch, in which Nathan Astle played a brilliant innings of 222 runs and in Karachi, England won the first series in Pakistan after 39 years by playing a brilliant innings of 64 not out. was
But due to the breakdown of his first marriage, Thorpe announced an 82-match one-day international break and then withdrew from the 2002-03 tour of Australia.
He nevertheless returned to the England team for the final Test of the following home season against South Africa, where his 124 at The Oval helped England draw the series with the Proteas.
Thorpe’s last Test was against Bangladesh two years later, in which Kevin Pietersen featured in England’s 2005 Ashes win.
He coached with New South Wales, where he worked with Steve Smith and David Warner, before returning to play for England initially as batting coach in 2010.
But after England’s 4-0 Ashes series defeat in 2021-22 to coronavirus-hit Australia, then-assistant coach Thorpe lost his job, along with head coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles. .
However, there was a great affection for Thorpe in the England squad.
This affection was also seen when Test captain Ben Stokes wore a shirt with the words ‘Thorpe 564’ at Lord’s in 2022 after Thorpe was admitted to hospital. 564 was his Test cap number.
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2024-08-07 12:53:57