But it was not all success.
After he had previously missed tours because of the challenges of life on the road, Thorpe’s first marriage publicly broke down in 2002.
He subsequently took an indefinite break from cricket and, despite initially making himself available, pulled out of England’s 2002-03 Ashes squad to face Australia.
Thorpe would miss more than a year at international level, but he returned with what he described as his finest innings.
After being recalled in 2003 for the final Test of the summer at the Oval, he scored 124 in the first innings against South Africa.
In typically composed style he held his arms aloft and punched the air after reaching three figures, his home crowd giving an emotional, extended ovation from the stands.
“There were times when I thought I wasn’t going to play again and more importantly I had to wipe away the memory of how I walked away from cricket last year,” he said afterwards.
“I didn’t want to leave cricket like that, and you couldn’t have written it better to get a century on your home ground.”
That innings marked the start of a resurgence for Thorpe in the latter years of his career.
After his recall, he scored 1,635 runs at 56.37 as England’s fortunes improved under new captain Michael Vaughan.
Thorpe, dubbed the grandad of the team by Vaughan,, external hit five centuries in that period, including one packed with his trademark grit, batting with a broken finger against West Indies.
He played his 100th Test against Bangladesh early in the 2005 season, but it proved to be his last.
Having played in five unsuccessful Ashes series, Thorpe was left out when Vaughan’s side famously won back the urn in 2005, the younger batting options of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen preferred.
After retiring that summer, Thorpe began coaching in Australia with New South Wales.
He soon returned to work with Surrey and by 2010 was again involved in the England set-up, as batting coach of the development Lions side before moving up to assist the senior men’s side.
He left his role as assistant coach in February 2022 after a 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia, but also had been part of the backroom team for England’s 50-over World Cup win in 2019.
After leaving England he was appointed Afghanistan men’s head coach in March 2022 but did not oversee a match after he fell ill.
Whether batting or coaching, Thorpe was a fixture on the international scene for almost three decades.