England cricket legend Graham Thorpe passes away at 55

Graham Thorpe (Pic: ICC)

Former England cricketer Graham Thorpe passed away on August 5, Monday. The veteran was suffering from an illness for some years.

The England and Wales Cricket Board took to X which read, "It is with great sadness that we share the news that Graham Thorpe, MBE, has passed away. There seem to be no appropriate words to describe the deep shock we feel at Graham's death." Taking to X:

Making his debut in 1993, Graham Thorpe was known as England's batting mainstay till the early 2000s. Representing England in 100 Test matches, the left-hander smashed 6,744 runs with an average of 44.66. He also had 16 centuries and 39 half-centuries registered under his name. His best score in the longest format of the game was unbeaten 200 runs.

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In 82 ODIs, Graham Thorpe accumulated 2,380 runs with an average of 37.18. He has 21 half-centuries in the format. In his career, he made two appearances at the Cricket World Cups. In the 1996 edition, Graham Thorpe scored 254 runs and then contributed 125 runs three years later at the event in England, Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

In 1998, Graham Thorpe emerged as number three in ICC's Test batting rankings during England's tour to West Indies. His peak in the ODI rankings was No.10.

After retiring from cricket in 2005, Thorpe held coaching positions with New South Wales, Surrey and England Men's side.

He was involved with the England setup as a coach for the majority of the 2010s and was part of the coaching hierarchy in the role of batting coach that netted the European side of the 2019 World Cup on home soil in thrilling fashion.

He was recently England's assistant coach up until the 2021/22 Ashes tour of Australia.

Thorpe was subsequently appointed as Afghanistan's head coach in March 2022, but couldn't take up the position due to his illness.