Graham Thorpe has passed away

[sherb]

Graham Thorpe has passed away at the terribly young age of 55.

What sad news.

England great Graham Thorpe passes away

Former England international Graham Thorpe had been suffering from an illness for some years.

www.icc-cricket.com

 

[Westend]

wow

so young....he was a gritty leftie i liked watching him play

rip thorpie

 

[revo333]

He was a good player to watch when he got going.

 

[Cleavy]

 

[Gough]

He and Robin Smith were about the only England players from his era that I watched play and thought I wish they played for us.

 

[James Colorado]

A part of my childhood has gone with him

 

[Lunchtime]

Very sad news.

 

[Monocle]

Very sad news.

One of the few Poms that I warmed too as a competitor, he put value on his wicket, was at his best with his teams back against the wall.

He was one of those players who made you nervous when he came to the wicket as he could be both hard to remove and seemed to be able to craft an innings against the odds.

He was a gritty fighter and a real competitor and I respect that.

And 55 is just way too young to pass.

 

[PhatBoy]

He and Robin Smith were about the only England players from his era that I watched play and thought I wish they played for us.

Absolutely. Given that Smith and Gooch both played their last tests less than halfway through the decade I suspect I’d be right in saying that Thorpe is the only ‘legitimate’ 1990s England batsman who averaged 40 for his career - and he only got to share a year of it with those two: the best of the rest that he had help from were Athers, Stewart, and Hick, so no mean feat. Played a couple of lovely innings against the Aussies including that century on debut and I think a hundred at the WACA in 1994-95 maybe??

Very stylish and compact, lovely player to watch and I always thought it was a great shame that he finished up months before the 05 ashes, there was a touch of Peter Riccardi about it - going through all that heartbreak only to finish within sight of his team’s ultimate redemption.

This is tragic news

 

[Ross]

Thorpe's Test career ended before the 2005 Ashes despite him averaging over 70 the year before and then scoring over 100 runs without being dismissed against Bangladesh. Pietersen's form, particularly in ODIs, was so irresistible that the Poms couldn't leave him out and Thorpe was the one who had to make way with Trescothick, Strauss, Vaughan, Bell and Flintoff making up the rest of the top six.

On the other hand, our selectors chose to stay conservative for the Ashes, Symonds was named player of the ODI tri-series beforehand but was never added to the Ashes squad despite Martyn and Katich being all out of sorts.

Only bringing this up because Thorpe was announced as being seriously ill in May 2022, just a few days before Symonds was killed, and both of those were just a couple of months after Warne's passing. Warne was of course the main character of the 2005 Ashes series. Three influential figures on the 2005 Ashes series for three very different reasons. But most of all, Thorpe at 55, Warne at 52 and Symonds at 46 have all died way too young.

 

[brutus76]

I loved Thorpie.

One of the few English batters I actually loved watching at the crease.

Fellow lefty and like David Gower arguably England's best cover driver

 

[DaRick]

It's truly depressing to see players from your childhood die off.

First Warne, then Symonds and now Thorpe.

Thorpe was ENG's best batsman during a rather bleak decade for ENG Cricket, and he always seemed up for the fight against Australia, both home and away.

He batted with poise during a disastrous ENG 1993 Ashes, and took it up to us down here, scoring a century on a WACA deck which was too much for his more experienced peers to handle.

He had a compact technique, a nice cover drive and played spin bowling very well for a 1990s ENG batsman.

But sometimes, a great player just can't get that one series win. Steve Waugh couldn't win in IND, Allan Border couldn't beat WI. Shaun Pollock couldn't beat us. And such was Graeme Thorpe's fate.

But his record during a tricky batting era, when he often had to face off against formidable WI/AUS/PAK/SA outfits in friendly conditions, stands for itself.

RIP.

 

[Plugger35]

Sad and shocking news, he was right up there with the best English batsmen I have seen, certainly one of the best left handers.

 

[NYRB]

55 seems too young and I often think about how people Ive known around that die. Its made me change a bit of perspective on life as Ive grown older as well.

I remember a campaign in the mid 90s of the Ashes.

 

[Dipper]

Absolutely. Given that Smith and Gooch both played their last tests less than halfway through the decade I suspect I’d be right in saying that Thorpe is the only ‘legitimate’ 1990s England batsman who averaged 40 for his career - and he only got to share a year of it with those two: the best of the rest that he had help from were Athers, Stewart, and Hick, so no mean feat. Played a couple of lovely innings against the Aussies including that century on debut and I think a hundred at the WACA in 1994-95 maybe??

I think you're right, although Alec Stewart might average over 40 as a specialist batsmen (certainly does as an opener).

 

[Dipper]

Thorpe's Test career ended before the 2005 Ashes despite him averaging over 70 the year before and then scoring over 100 runs without being dismissed against Bangladesh. Pietersen's form, particularly in ODIs, was so irresistible that the Poms couldn't leave him out and Thorpe was the one who had to make way with Trescothick, Strauss, Vaughan, Bell and Flintoff making up the rest of the top six.

It was a poor decision to leave him out and could have cost England, it was Duncan Fletcher's ideological thinking, don't get me wrong I definitely would have selected Pietersen but Bell had only just got in the team in South Africa the winter before, so he should have gone out, he barely made a run in the Ashes.

Thorpe was around 6th highest Test average in 2000s.

 

[Dipper]

55 seems too young and I often think about how people Ive known around that die. Its made me change a bit of perspective on life as Ive grown older as well.

I remember a campaign in the mid 90s of the Ashes.

When he got ill 2 years ago you could never find any information on what was wrong but it's well documented in his auto-biography that he's battled with depression.

 

[revo333]

It was a poor decision to leave him out and could have cost England, it was Duncan Fletcher's ideological thinking, don't get me wrong I definitely would have selected Pietersen but Bell had only just got in the team in South Africa the winter before, so he should have gone out, he barely made a run in the Ashes.

Thorpe was around 6th highest Test average in 2000s.

Wikipedia and a few comments on here say he lost his spot to Pieterson.

I always remembered that the talk leading up to the series was him or Bell for the final batting spot.

 

[Dipper]

Wikipedia and a few comments on here say he lost his spot to Pieterson.

I always remembered that the talk leading up to the series was him or Bell for the final batting spot.

I think there's a bit of revisionist talk about it.

Fletcher will say that he didn't want any players who had been tainted by previous ashes defeats but if that were the case surely he'd have dropped Thorpe for SA the prior winter so Pietersen got game time.

At the time Thorpe declared that he'd be retiring at the end of 2005 and Fletcher said he didn't like picking players who had already decided to retire. A couple of years before all the talk was that Atherton and Stewart would be retiring but they didn't announce it until they got to their last tests.

 

[Belnakor]

When he got ill 2 years ago you could never find any information on what was wrong but it's well documented in his auto-biography that he's battled with depression.

Not sure he was seen in public since 2022 which suggests a near fatal suicide attempt type incident. Very unfortunate.

 

[sandeano]

Not sure he was seen in public since 2022 which suggests a near fatal suicide attempt type incident. Very unfortunate.

I hope it's not the case, but like so many, without cricket (as a player or coach) as an anchor in his life, it seemed to unravel.

 

[Around the Wicket]

Was this suicide?

 

[010203]

Was this suicide?

His family opted not to share the cause of his death.

 

[010203]

I didn't see him play but I did see footage of a knock of 116 he scored against the West Indies in the Caribbean in 2004 and boy thar was a stylish knock.

 

[PhatBoy]

I didn't see him play but I did see footage of a knock of 116 he scored against the West Indies in the Caribbean in 2004 and boy thar was a stylish knock.

He could really play mate. He wasn’t ’stylishly graceful’ in the way of say, a mark waugh, Jayawardene, or a Hashim Amla where there was a hint of effortlessness to everything or like he was batting with a wand, but more like your Sangakkara or even a hint of Lara with his follow throughs and the straightness of the bat on his drives etc and he was just very correct and compact on the front foot.

He could cut and pull well, he could handle Warne as well as any Englishman prior to KP. Without being a ‘great’ he was a complete player