Graham Thorpe

The mainstay of England's middle order for close to a decade, Thorpe was well known as a fluent left handed batsman. Generally, elegance is associated with south-paws, but Thorpe exuded a certain charm to the caressing drives that went past the cover fielders. He made a name as an exceptional counter-attacking batsman who could turn the tide in his team's favor with his belligerent strokes. In addition to that, his presence in the field was invaluable and he excelled in any position.

Thorpe was born in Farnham, Surrey on 1st August 1969 and was the youngest of three brothers. Although naturally right handed, he reversed his stance so that his brothers would find it difficult to get him out and also to take advantage of the shorter boundary on the leg side. This cricketing brain, developed at an early age helped him when he went on to make his debut for Surrey in 1988. 5 years later he debuted for England and scored a century in the second innings of his debut test against the mighty Australians at Trent Bridge. For a period of 10 years, he was consistently touring with the senior and A sides. He once made a 200 off just 231 balls against New Zealand at Christchurch and put on a partnership of 281 runs in 51 overs with Andrew Flintoff. It seemed to have a negative effect on his on-field demeanor which became a touch grumpy. However, he opted out of a South African tour in 1999-2000 to spend some time with his family. He came back rejuvenated from the break and began a second phase in a career.

In 2002, his marital problems were well publicised which affected his game severely. He had reservations about going on a tour to Australia and eventually pulled out of it to concentrate on his family life. He also announced his retirement from ODIs. But as is the case with most great players, he rose from the ashes to make a comeback in the fifth Test against South Africa at his home ground at the Oval where he scored an brilliant 124 leading his team to victory. The win meant that England forced, what initially looked like, an unlikely series draw. He went on to complete playing 100 Tests for England against Bangladesh in 2005. It was undoubtedly the best phase of his career as after his comeback he had notched up 1635 runs at an average of 56.37.

In 2005 the England selectors chose Kevin Pietersen in his place. This was not entirely on the basis of form as Thorpe averaged 49 against the Aussies. It was more due to a back problem and at that time, Thorpe was 36 and had played for about 12 years almost continuously. He then played for Surrey for another 2 months before retiring in August 2005. He went to Australia and served New South Wales as a batting coach for two seasons. He was made Member of the British Empire on 17th June 2006.

Facts:

1) Thorpe was a summariser for BBC Radio's Test match special program during India's 2007 tour to England and was promptly removed from the position after it was found that he spoke with a pronounced lisp
2) He was Wisden cricketer of the Year in 1998
3) His century against Pakistan in November 2000 consisted of only 1 boundary.

By Siddharth Prabhakar