Graham Thorpe, who has died – at the age of 55 – established himself during a memorable 100-Test career spanning the millennium as the outstanding England batsman of his generation.
If Mike Atherton excelled in defence, and Alec Stewart was flamboyant in attack, Thorpe – once hailed by his team-mate and close friend Nasser Hussain as a ‘little genius’ – had it all: technique and ticker, plus a sharp cricketing brain and chameleon-like adaptability.
Whether scoring a hundred against Australia’s quicks at the WACA or defying Muttiah Muralitharan on a Colombo turner, he was England’s man for all seasons. At times, it seemed only an intense nature and occasionally troubled private life could stand in his way.
A record of 6,744 Test runs at 44, with 16 hundreds, as well as 2,380 at 37 in one-day internationals, confirmed his quality. But it was the manner in which he made them, as much as their volume, that marked him out as an England great.
Born in Farnham, Surrey, in 1969, Thorpe was playing for neighbouring Wrecclesham men’s team at the age of 13. At 16, his county came calling. And when it became clear that a potential career as a ‘nip-your-ankles midfielder’ was going nowhere – despite fleeting interest from Brentford – he threw in his lot with cricket.
Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe has died at the age of 55
As a player, Thorpe is widely considered as one of English cricket’s finest ever middle order batsmen – here he is pictured playing against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2002
Thorpe was most recently England’s batting coach, but was sacked after the 4-0 Ashes series defeat in 2022
For a while, England A tours threatened to be the best of it. But the selectors had spotted something. Parachuted into the third Ashes Test at Trent Bridge in 1993, and with England 2-0 down and facing ridicule, Thorpe responded to being bounced out cheaply by Merv Hughes in the first innings with an unbeaten 114 in the second.Â
He was the first England batsman to score a Test century on debut since Frank Hayes, 20 years earlier.
Hundreds, it’s true, were not easy to come by: between Nottingham and back-to-back centuries in New Zealand in 1996-97, Thorpe managed just one in Tests, at Perth. But he was establishing a reputation as a selfless counter-attacker, typified by three successive seventies at home to South Africa in 1994.
His one-legged swivel-pull, made more elegant by his left-handedness, became one of the signature shots of England’s mainly troubled decade.
Never was his versatility put to better use than during a pair of unexpected victories in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-01. In the first Test at Lahore, he nudged and nurdled 118 off 301 balls, hitting only two fours.Â
In the third at Karachi, he took charge of the famous run-chase in the dark, making an unbeaten 64 to seal a 1-0 win. The sight of him and Hussain running off, arm in arm, remained one of the images of the era.
In September 2017, Thorpe was presented with a silver cap to commemorate his 100 Tests
Thorpe and Andrew Strauss celebrate England winning their first Test match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in 2004
Thorpe, pictured here alongside Nasser Hussain (right) after clinching a defining victory in the near dark in Pakistan in 2000, is regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generationÂ
In the 1993 Ashes, Thorpe made a magnificent unbeaten 114 to help England draw against Australia at Trent Bridge, where the crowd gave him a standing ovation
Weeks later, on a bad-tempered tour of Sri Lanka, Thorpe brilliantly kept Muralitharan at bay, scoring 59 and 46 in the series-levelling win at Kandy, then 113 and 32 – both unbeaten – as England won the decider in Colombo. Wisden said the century ‘confirmed his arrival as a world-class batsman, as prepared to counter-attack as dig in, composed against pace or spin’. Without him, Atherton’s team might have lost 3-0.
There were more highlights to come, including an unbeaten double-hundred at Christchurch, before – approaching the age of 36 – he was dropped ahead of the 2005 Ashes. Kevin Pietersen had arrived on the scene, and England wanted to bed in Ian Bell.
The final few years of Thorpe’s career combined skill and suffering in almost equal measure. Late in 2001, he left a tour of India because his marriage to Nicky was disintegrating.
A comeback at home to India in 2002 ended quickly, for the same reason. Atherton later noted that ‘of all the players I played with, he was the one whose state of mind most affected his play’.Â
A bitter divorce followed in 2003, and formed the bulk of his 2005 autobiography Rising from the Ashes. It was not a light read. He spoke openly of the solace he sought in drink; friends feared his England career was over. But the separation helped clear his mind for a final flourish.
Thorpe made 124 on his comeback to set up a raucous series-levelling win against South Africa at The Oval, his home ground, and in 2004 produced the year of his life under the leadership of Michael Vaughan: 951 runs at an average of 73, with four centuries. Soon after, he went out somewhere close to the top. Only 14 men made more Test runs for England.
The left-hander, pictured here playing against Pakistan in 2000, was a key man for years
Thorpe was open about the struggles he faced when he split from his wife Nicky (left)
Thorpe and Joe Root together, after England’s stunning World Cup final victory over New Zealand at Lord’s back in 2019
Thorpe took over as Afghanistan head coach following his England departure before falling seriously ill
As Stewart, his long-time England and Surrey colleague, put it, Thorpe was ‘so good he could get a hundred with his eyes shut at county level’.
A career in coaching followed. He was appointed England’s lead batting coach in 2010, and worked with the team until he was among those sacked after the 4-0 defeat in Australia in 2022.
He had long since remarried, to Amanda, and two years ago appeared set for the next stage of his life as head coach of Afghanistan when he was taken ill. Instead, the game is mourning one of the most watchable batsmen of the last 30 years.Â