The ECB has confirmed the death of former England and Surrey batter Graham Thorpe at the age of 55.
Thorpe played 100 Test matches for England
Thorpe, who played 100 Tests for England between 1993 and 2005 and later served as batting coach for the senior men’s side, became “seriously ill” in 2022, shortly after being chosen Afghanistan’s head coach.
Thorpe amassed 6744 Test runs, including 16 hundreds, and was capped 82 times in one-day internationals. He played for Surrey from 1988 to 2005, scoring nearly 20,000 runs for the county.
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Being one of England’s finest batters, he was a beloved member of the cricket family and revered by fans all over the world.
Thorpe’s talent was undeniable, and his abilities and accomplishments over a 13-year international career brought great joy to his teammates as well as England and Surrey CCC fans. Later, as a coach, he led the English men’s talent to tremendous successes in all formats of the game.
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Thorpe had joined ECB as batting coach in 2010
Thorpe joined the ECB in 2010 as batting coach, and he was a member of the backroom team that won the Men’s Cricket World Cup. He went on to work as Chris Silverwood’s assistant coach, though he was one of several coaching staff members to leave following the 2021-22 Ashes.
Following Thorpe’s hospitalisation in May of that year, England’s newly appointed Test captain Ben Stokes wore a shirt with Thorpe’s name and England cap number on the back for the toss in his first match in command, against New Zealand at Lords.
