- Windies sweat on injury to 'crucial' Taylor at World Cup
- Lebanon says 11 dead, 48 injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut
- Panama lashes out at EU over tax haven 'outrage'
- Erdogan says Gaza 'shame of humanity', calls for permanent ceasfire
- TD Bank to pay more than $3 bn to US in money-laundering case
- SAfrica prosecutors drop criminal complaint against president
- 'Good opportunity': Nagelsmann upbeat despite Germany's long injury list
- Hurricane whips up bitter US election battle
- Cameroon bans media talk of president's health amid rumours
- NFL MVP Jackson and rookie phenom Daniels set for showdown
- Chad's capital under threat as floodwaters rise
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit central Beirut
- No answers on strike on reporters in Lebanon one year on: watchdog
- Ramharack picks four wickets as Windies beat Bangladesh in Women's T20 World Cup
- France's City of Light switches to climate-resilient power cables
- Djokovic hails Nadal 'legacy' as Alcaraz in 'shock' over retirement
- Obama hits campaign trail for Harris
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Djokovic tells Nadal: 'Your legacy will live forever'
- Ethel Kennedy, wife of RFK, dead at 96
- Zelensky denies ceasefire with Russia under discussion on trip
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- After long fight for glory, Nadal leaves with a legacy of memories
- Home hopes Zheng and Wang through to last-eight in Wuhan Open
- UN peacekeepers say Israel fired on Lebanon HQ, injuring 2
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Alcaraz out as top players pay tribute to Nadal at Shanghai Masters
- Racing's Farrell 'not thinking' about British and Irish Lions
- Alcaraz, Sinner pay tribute to 'unbelievable' Nadal at Shanghai Masters
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- After K-pop, K-novels? South Korean Nobel win sparks joy, hope at home
- After Nadal exit, Djokovic left to rage against dying of the light
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
- Triple centurion Brook happy to break Dad's club record
- Zelensky touts 'victory plan' against Russia in Macron talks
- Musk finally unveiling his long-promised robotaxi
- UN peacekeepers accuses Israel of firing on Lebanon HQ
- London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics
- Southgate taking year out from coaching
- US, Europe stocks fall on US inflation data
- Zelensky meets Macron in Paris as part of European tour
- Hurricane Milton shreds Florida stadium roof
- UN probe accuses Israel of seeking to 'destroy' Gaza healthcare
- US consumer inflation eases to 2.4% in September
- England in sight of victory after Brook's triple hundred
- Juventus readmitted to ECA after failed Super League revolt
- World number 2 Alcaraz knocked out of Shanghai Masters by Machac
- Leaders of Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia meet amid regional tensions
- Klopp's Red Bull decision 'ruined life's work' say Dortmund fans
- Han Kang wins South Korea's first literature Nobel
RBGPF | 4.03% | 63.35 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 6.9 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.15% | 24.557 | $ | |
BCC | -2.88% | 138.41 | $ | |
SCS | -3.7% | 12.565 | $ | |
BTI | -0.97% | 35.14 | $ | |
AZN | -0.99% | 76.745 | $ | |
NGG | 0.14% | 65.72 | $ | |
RIO | 0.53% | 66.705 | $ | |
GSK | -2.85% | 39.125 | $ | |
RELX | -0.77% | 46.355 | $ | |
JRI | -0.1% | 13.207 | $ | |
VOD | -0.31% | 9.7 | $ | |
BCE | -1.71% | 32.75 | $ | |
BP | 0.9% | 32.27 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.27% | 24.746 | $ |
Graham Thorpe: A shining light in a tough era for England
It is a measure of Graham Thorpe's class that despite emerging during one of English cricket's most difficult periods, he still managed to win exactly 100 Test caps.
Left-handed batsmen are often described as either "stylish" or "gritty" yet Thorpe, whose death aged 55 was announced on Monday, somehow managed to be both in an often struggling England team.
He enjoyed a spectacular start to his Test career with an Ashes hundred on debut in 1993 and retired 12 years later having won 99 more caps -- no mean feat in an era of inconsistent England selection.
England went through the whole of the 1990s without winning a single Ashes series yet Thorpe averaged more against Australia than he did in his career overall (45.74 against 44.66).
But the collapse of his first marriage, which took place in the full glare of media publicity, led to a bout of depression and separation from his children, with Thorpe taking an indefinite break from cricket in 2002.
As he movingly wrote in his autobiography, Rising from the Ashes: "There came a time when I would have given back all my Test runs and Test caps just to be happy again."
Michael Atherton, a former England team-mate, once wrote: "Of all the players I played with, (Thorpe) was the one whose state of mind most affected his play.
"A happy, contented Graham Thorpe is a world-class player, his presence beneficial to any team. If something off the field is eating away at him, he cannot put it to the back of his mind and concentrate on his cricket."
And yet Thorpe, who enjoyed a happy second marriage, did manage a successful return to the Test arena.
Born on August 1, 1969 in the market town of Farnham, Surrey, Thorpe was both a promising schoolboy cricketer and footballer.
But it was cricket that claimed him and his first-class debut against Leicestershire saw the best England left-handed batsman of his time dismiss the one of the previous generation when Thorpe took the wicket of David Gower with his rarely-used medium-pace bowling.
His Test debut, during the drawn third match of the 1993 Ashes against Australia at Trent Bridge, saw Thorpe score a second-innings 114 as he became England's first debutant century-maker since Frank Hayes 20 years earlier.
One criticism levelled at Thorpe was that a man who got past fifty on 55 occasions in Test cricket, should have ended up with more than 16 hundreds.
- Memorable centuries -
But many of those centuries were memorable, be it his first overseas hundred for England on the notoriously quick WACA pitch in Perth against a formidable Australia attack in 1995 or an unbeaten 119 when facing West Indies greats Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh in Barbados in 2004.
There was and a superb 200 not out in Christchurch in 2002 -- a match featuring Nathan Astle's spectacular 222 in a losing cause -- and a heroic 64 not out in the fading light of Karachi to seal England's first series win in Pakistan for 39 years.
But the collapse of his first marriage, played out in lurid headlines, led Thorpe to call time on a one-day international career of 82 matches and then withdraw from the 2002/03 tour of Australia.
Yet he returned to England duty for the final Test of the following home season against South Africa, where his 124 at the Oval helped England to an unlikely series draw with the Proteas.
Thorpe's last Test was against Bangladesh two years later, with Kevin Pietersen effectively taking his place for England's celebrated 2005 Ashes triumph.
A coaching stint with New South Wales, where he worked with Steve Smith and David Warner, followed and he returned to work with England, initially as a batting coach in 2010.
But a 4-0 Ashes defeat on England's 2021/22 coronavirus-marred tour of Australia meant Thorpe, then an assistant coach, lost his job as did head coach Chris Silverwood, and the director of cricket, Ashley Giles.
There was still, however, a huge affection for Thorpe within the England squad.
This was seen when Test captain Ben Stokes wore a shirt emblazoned on the back with 'Thorpe 564' –- his Test cap number –- at Lord's after Thorpe was admitted to hospital in 2022.
D.Kaufman--AMWN