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Graham Thorpe

Graham Thorpe
Graham Thorpe.JPG
Personal information
Full name Graham Paul Thorpe
Born (1969-08-01) 1 August 1969 (age 47)
Farnham, Surrey, England
Nickname Thorpey
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Right arm medium
Role Middle-order batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 564) 1 July 1993 v Australia
Last Test 5 June 2005 v Bangladesh
ODI debut (cap 122) 19 May 1993 v Australia
Last ODI 2 July 2002 v Sri Lanka
ODI shirt no. 9
Domestic team information
Years Team
1988–2005 Surrey
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 100 82 341 354
Runs scored 6744 2380 21937 10871
Batting average 44.66 37.18 45.04 39.67
100s/50s 16/39 0/21 49/122 9/80
Top score 200* 89 223* 145*
Balls bowled 138 120 2387 721
Wickets 0 2 26 16
Bowling average 48.50 53.00 40.56
5 wickets in innings 0 0
10 wickets in match n/a n/a
Best bowling 2/15 4/40 3/21
Catches/stumpings 105/– 42/– 290/– 168/–
Source: Cricinfo, 29 November 2007

Graham Paul Thorpe MBE (born 1 August 1969) is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey and England. A left-handed middle-order batsman and slip fielder, he appeared in exactly 100 Test matches.

Thorpe was born in Farnham, Surrey, in August 1969. Naturally right-handed, when he was six years old Thorpe changed his stance to make it harder for his two elder brothers to get him out and because the boundary in his garden was shorter on the leg-side for a left-hander.

Thorpe made his debut for Surrey in 1988, and his international debut in 1993. He scored a century (114 not out) in the second innings of his debut Test match, against Australia at Trent Bridge. Developing into a very highly regarded player, he was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1998. Thorpe hit only one four in his hundred against Pakistan at Lahore in November 2000. It also contained seven threes, 12 twos and 51 singles. He hit another boundary before being dismissed for 118 from 301 balls. This is among the fewest ever boundaries in a Test century. However, Thorpe was also a highly capable stroke-maker: during his highest Test score, 200 not out off 231 balls against New Zealand at Christchurch in 2002, he and Andrew Flintoff compiled a partnership of 281 in 51 overs.

During the 2002 season, Thorpe had marital difficulties which were well publicised in several tabloid newspapers, and this seriously affected his play and his focus on the game. Seemingly disillusioned with constant touring away from his family, he announced his retirement from the one-day game and changed his mind several times on whether to tour Australia, eventually pulling out of the tour entirely. However, in 2003 Thorpe, with family problems put to one side, returned to the England team in the fifth Test against South Africa at his home ground of The Oval, where he was warmly welcomed as a local hero with a standing ovation. Thorpe scored an excellent 124 as England won the match to force an unlikely series draw, and remained in the side for series victories against Bangladesh away and at home, against the West Indies away and at home, against New Zealand at home, and in South Africa. He played his hundredth and final Test against Bangladesh in June 2005; in the two years between his comeback and his retirement he scored 1635 Test runs at an average of 56.37.


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