The cricketing world received the most gut-wrenching news on Monday morning that Surrey and England legend Graham Thorpe had passed away at the age of just 55.
Thorpe’s departure is one of shattering premature sadness – but the memories he conjured up during a challenging but prosperous 12-year international career (1993-2005) continue to shine bright.
A batsman of prodigious talent, the popular left-hander crafted 6,744 test runs at an average of 45. He made sixteen hundreds and top-scored with an epic 200* in Christchurch. He was also an accomplished One-Day-International cricketer; notching up 2,380 runs at an average of 37 in the 50-over format.
But Thorpe is another tale of the raw volume not telling the whole story. His ability against all bowling types, his ability in all kinds of conditions, and his ability to deliver his best in crunch situations when England were under the cosh were what really captured the minds of audiences and earned him a special place in the hearts of England cricket fans forever. There weren’t too many ‘cash-in’ type opportunities against weaker bowling attacks through most of his career.
It is well-documented that throughout the 90s, England spent most of their time being outgunned by sides with superior firepower. Australia, South Africa and the West Indies were regular opponents and regular victors.
One man was a consistent shining light. His name was Graham Thorpe. His batting had a certain rugged and organised discipline, combined with multifunctional skill that commanded respect and quickly established him as the standout England batter of his generation.
Thorpe had Michael Atherton’s stickability and Alec Stewart’s penchant for carving good quick bowlers around. But Atherton didn’t have Thorpe’s range of shots, and Stewart wasn’t in Thorpe’s class against the spinners. Thorpe’s defence was watertight, and he was both capable and willing to bring out the horizontal shots in his armour that are required when the bowling team are applying pressure from both ends.
For some quick context regarding the lack of cheap runs on offer, 91 of Thorpe’s first 112 Test innings came against the four formidable attacks (the three already mentioned along with Pakistan) that made the 90s a golden era for Test bowling. There was no hiding place for a flaky team’s biggest hope.
Graham Thorpe’s maiden Test century arrived on debut at Trent Bridge; against an Australian side that were on route to global dominance no less. It was a mature and assured performance. There could hardly have been a more fitting signal that this broad, brown-haired young lad belonged in the big time.
His second Test century, a little over a year later, was also against the Australians. A superb performance at the old Waca ground, the fastest pitch on the planet. The ball was leaping into Thorpe’s face off good lengths and he was controlling his shots marvellously. The square cut was always his signature shot, but he was a gifted puller also.
Thorpe would get right on top of the extra bounce and roll his wrists with precise placement. Fast footwork and a disciplined back-lift were both essential. He also possessed an eccentric one-legged swivel pull that was played so nonchalantly when he was in form, it was almost more of a flick. That innings of 123 could not prevent England from losing badly, but it was the start of Thorpe building a reputation as a player for all conditions.
Personal success in the Ashes continued for Thorpe in 1997. He joined future England captain Nasser Hussain for an iconic match-winning partnership at Edgbaston; registering a score of 138 to compliment Hussain’s double hundred. Thorpe also played an influential knock (62 out of 163) in a tight victory at the Oval.
Such performances led to a series average of 50 which was the highest of all the England batters and a fine accomplishment against an attack that boasted two of the greatest ever bowlers (Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne) both in their peak; backed up by new guys on the block, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz, who both also enjoyed productive tours with their extra pace. I
t was notable that Thorpe played Shane Warne particularly well. He could smother Warne’s spin with soft hands in defence, didn’t require a terrible delivery to cut the ball, was a fine sweeper, and had a quick pair of feet to dance down the track with to anything flighty or rock back to anything slightly short.
Thorpe’s credentials against top class bowling were also done little harm by a commendable performance in the 1995 home series against a gun West Indies pace attack that contained the outstanding Curtly Ambrose and the dangerous Ian Bishop in their respective primes, backed up by the ever-reliable Courtney Walsh. Thorpe averaged 42 including an underrated 94 on the then-genuinely fast Old Trafford deck.
He repeated that feat on the 1998 tour; in which he helped himself to his 6th Test century on the bouncy Kensington Oval track after coming in at 33-3. Thorpe then produced an unvanquished marathon in a bid to save the 6th and final Test in Antigua – 84* (322) as the rest of the team fell away at the other end. Both all too familiar occurrences.
The ‘fireman’ tag that affectionately followed Thorpe around was backed up by a series of influential knocks in hard-fought victories; especially overseas. The first of those came against the New Zealanders at Basin Reserve in 1997. Thorpe was responsible for the only century of a low-scoring match, paving the way for an English victory.
Of course, this isn’t to say Thorpe’s career didn’t come without its low points. He cut a weary image at times in the middle. He had a couple of run-ins with cricket authorities; one of them at the 1999 Cricket World Cup. A failing marriage, which was a mercilessly long process, was perhaps the biggest challenge of all. It brought a premature end to multiple tours and home summers. And it must have weighed so heavily on Thorpe’s mind.
The lowest point from a batting perspective was probably the ill-fated New Zealand series at home in 1999. England were consigned to the bottom of the ICC rankings after a pitiful 2-1 defeat, and Thorpe suffered a bitterly disappointing time, scoring 147 runs at an average of 24. This followed a wretched series against South Africa when he suffered three successive ducks.
It takes a creative resilience to recover from such multi-layered adversity which relates to both technical practice and mental strength; something many great players have to find within themselves. Graham Thorpe went and proved he had the character and skill to go down as one of those in the years that followed. Having been a ray of light through a bleak chapter for English cricket, Thorpe continued to be the main man when things took a turn for the better.
He was the pillar behind England’s successful tour of the subcontinent (2000-01). Thorpe (64*) was the lead character in England’s series-clinching 4th innings chase of 176 in Karachi. This feat came in spite of bad light turning to almost total darkness in the midst of another iconic partnership with his great mate Nasser Hussain.
They reached the target with two overs remaining. Thorpe had registered a century against an in-form Saqlain Mushtaq during the previous Test. A man with a charming sense of humour, Thorpe once recalled that Nasser couldn’t see the ball in the dark, but that he had batted like that throughout the series anyway.
And if you think Thorpe in Pakistan was good, what about the masterclass in Sri Lanka later that winter? During the deciding Test in Colombo, Thorpe produced an innings of 123*. The highest score from a teammate was just 26 (only one other player in the entire match managed a half century). Thorpe even backed that up with a precious 32* in a nervy chase of 74-6; lightning struck again after his exploits in Karachi.
The way Thorpe played Muttiah Muralitharan, the Test game’s all-time leading wicket taker, on a very spin-friendly wicket, was something to behold. A masterclass of application. It was a wicket so kind to spin that Ashley Giles and Robert Croft, England’s spinners who, with respect, were not in the same ballpark as Murali, took 11 wickets at a cost of just 13. Pace bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Darren Gough and Andy Caddick also making hay on the SSC wicket reflects the uneven nature of the surface.
Thorpe continued his rich vein of form the following year. Having ground his way to a hundred in Karachi that featured just 2 boundaries in 301 deliveries, Thorpe demonstrated the flexibility in his range of tempos in the Christchurch Test of 2002. An unbeaten double hundred off just 225 deliveries. Admittedly, the short boundaries were of assistance, but the stroke play against pace and spin grew increasingly brutal and disdainful as the innings motored on. England won by 98 runs. Thorpe making it a double was important.
As batting averages went up around the world in the 2000s and the England cricket team continued to improve, Thorpe not only remained the team’s best player, but also continued to be the man for a crisis. Both his hundreds in the 2004 home summer came after entering the crease with England 3 down for next to nothing; one of them in a successful run chase of 284.
Just a few months earlier on the successful tour of the Caribbean, Thorpe compiled what I believe to be his best Test innings. England travelled to Barbados knowing a win (or technically a draw also) would clinch the series. The Kensington Oval wicket on that occasion was a minefield. Spiteful uneven bounce and sideways movement. West Indies only managed 224 batting first. The second highest England contributor subsequently only reached 17. Thorpe, just like in Colombo, was simply batting on a different pitch. He finished with 119* out of 226. England went on to win by 8 wickets.
More poignantly than ever now, many England fans can be heard singing “there’s only one Graham Thorpe” while he emotionally celebrated his terrific ton. The classical principles of Graham Thorpe’s batting coupled with a relentless knack of scoring tough runs endeared him not only to England fans, but to Test cricket fans all around the world. He was a noble, timeless cricketer.
There will always be a tinge of sadness that Thorpe was, rather unfairly, denied what would have been the perfect finale in the 2005 Ashes when England finally defeated the Aussies for the first time in 18 years. There is an added cruelty that Thorpe, despite such an impressive average of 46 against Australia, was never on the winning side in an Ashes series.
The decision to play Ian Bell, an upcoming prodigy, was understandable. But Thorpe’s average since start of the 2000-01 subcontinent tour was 55 (70 innings sample); having averaged a thunderous 73 in 2004, and was a proven performer against Australia. To discard such a titan felt unfair and even foolish. Given Bell’s subsequent series average of 17, the decision to drop Graham Thorpe would have been among the biggest talking points in the aftermath if a big moment was reversed in Australia’s favour and they went on to claim a 2-2 draw instead of a 2-1 defeat.
However, it must always be remembered that one must never dwell too much on what might have been when there were enough great memories of Graham Thorpe to last a lifetime.
Thorpe’s batting resembled an assured and quietly successful businessman. Unflashy yet entertaining and very effective. His technique was orthodox and sound. He had an air of clarity and competence. He was clinical. He played the percentages, had a healthy range of strokes on both sides of the wicket, and was always up for a battle. The balanced nature of his fundamentals is reflected by an overseas average of 44. He averaged above 40 in Australia, New Zealand, the subcontinent and the Caribbean as well as on home soil.
A quite brilliant player, does he get the credit he deserves? I think as modern England middle-order batsmen go, Graham Thorpe absolutely belongs in the same conversation as Kevin Pietersen and David Gower. Yet he so often seems to slip that net. I hope that changes because it certainly should. Thorpe’s unshowy nature and being efficient but not as destructive as Pietersen nor as aesthetically beautiful as Gower might have contributed to going under the radar post-retirement.
It was formally announced on the 10th of May in 2022 that Graham Thorpe was unwell. It was then announced on the 5th of August in 2024 that Graham Thorpe had passed away. The personal struggles he battled throughout his career, the legendary status he earned as a player, and 55 being no age at all make it a truly horrendous loss. I hope he knew just how loved he was. In terms of ratings, Graham Thorpe is sometimes undersold and that, coupled with the draining adversity he faced, results in fears that his case is one of underappreciation.
But the champion’s reception he received on his home ground at the Oval in 2003 ahead of what would prove to be a comeback ton against South Africa, and the chants of “walking in a Thorpe wonderland” in Bridgetown, provide hope he was aware that so many regarded him as a hero.
My deepest condolences go out to his family and closest friends. While it is a devastating time for English cricket, it is no comparison to what his wife, children and father must be feeling.
On behalf of all England cricket fans, thank you Graham Thorpe, for being our fireman.