England cricket legend and former coach Graham Thorpe dies aged 55 as his ‘devastated’ former county Surrey leads tributes to 100-Test batter who made 16 centuries in 12-year international career
Former England batsman and assistant coach Graham Thorpe has died at the age of 55.
Thorpe’s former county councillor Surrey led the tributes after his tragic passing was announced 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 has made an extraordinary contribution to the club as a cricketer and as a person and we will miss him immensely.’
The left-handed batsman was known as one of the best English players in recent history, playing exactly 100 Tests and scoring 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 batsmen also played 77 One Day Internationals.
One of his most memorable Test innings came against Pakistan in Karachi in 2000. After imploding on the hosts’ final day, Thorpe produced an unbeaten 64 in near darkness towards the end of his innings to lead England to their first series win in Pakistan in 39 years, and Pakistan’s first loss at the National Stadium in 35 years.
“I think literally five to ten minutes after we got on the field it was pitch black,” Thorpe told Cricket Monthly. “From the dressing room, when we got back on the balcony, it was pitch black.
“We opened bottles of lemonade because in Pakistan we weren’t allowed to drink. That night we were on a flight back to Dubai, where we had a few Guinnesses. There was about two hours between the end of the game, back to the hotel and a flight that night.”
Thorpe scored over 2,000 runs in the shorter format of the game and his intelligence and leadership ensured he made a smooth transition into coaching when he retired from football in 2006.
He began his coaching career in Australia, working with players such as Steve Smith and David Warner at New South Wales, before joining the England and Wales Cricket Board as a batting coach.
He worked as a first-team assistant under Trevor Bayliss and Chris Silverwood and led the team in the Sydney Test against Australia this winter due to Silverwood being diagnosed with coronavirus.
The ECB also released a statement following the shocking news of Thorpe’s death. A message from the agency 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 express the profound shock we feel at Graham’s passing.’
