Former England batsman, assistant coach and coach Graham Thorpe has passed away at the age of 55.
Former Surrey County MP Thorpe led tributes following the announcement of his tragic passing on Monday morning. In a statement, chairman Oli Slipper described him as one of Surrey’s “great sons”.
“He is a Surrey legend and brought great pride to the Club by wearing both the Three Feathers and the Three Lions,” the statement continued.
“He made outstanding contributions to the Club as a cricketer and as a man and will be greatly missed.”
The left-handed batsman was recognised as one of the best English players in recent history. He played exactly 100 Test matches and scored 16 centuries before retiring in 2005.
During his playing career, Thorpe averaged an impressive 44.7 runs in Test matches. His highest score was 200 not out and the talented middle-order batsman also played 77 one-day internationals.
One of his most memorable Test innings came in 2000 against Pakistan in Karachi. After a final-day implosion by the hosts, Thorpe hit an unbeaten 64 in near-total darkness towards the end of his innings to lead England to their first series win in Pakistan in 39 years – and Pakistan’s first defeat at the National Stadium in 35 years.
“I think literally five to ten minutes after we came out, it was pitch black,” Thorpe told Cricket Monthly. “From the dressing room, coming back out onto the balcony, it was pitch black.
‘We opened bottles of lemonade because you couldn’t drink it in Pakistan. We went back to Dubai that night, where we had a few Guinness. It was about two hours from the end of the match to the hotel and we got on a flight that same night.’
Thorpe amassed more than 2,000 runs in the shortest format of the game and his intelligence and leadership allowed him to make a smooth transition into coaching when he retired from the game in 2006.
He then began his coaching career in Australia, where he worked with the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner in New South Wales, before joining the England and Wales Cricket Board as batting coach.
He worked as an assistant with the senior team under Trevor Bayliss and Chris Silverwood, and took over leadership of the team in this winter’s Sydney Test against Australia due to Silverwood’s coronavirus diagnosis.
The ECB also issued a statement following the shocking news of Thorpe’s death. A post by the body on X read: “It is with great sadness that we share the news that Graham Thorpe, MBE, has passed away. There seem to be no adequate words to describe the profound shock we feel at Graham’s passing.”