Former England batter Graham Thorpe, who played in 100 Tests and 82 ODIs during his 12-year-long international career, passed away at the age of 55 on August 5. Thorpe, who mostly batted in the middle order for the English team at the highest level, made his international debut against arch-rivals Australia during an ODI match in Manchester on May 19, 1993.
He played a total of 82 50-over matches for the English team and scored 2380 runs in 77 innings. He was part of the English team that participated in the 1996 and 1999 ODI World Cups. His last ODI appearance for the Three Lions was against Sri Lanka at Headingley in Leeds during the famous Natwest series in 2002, which India won under Sourav Ganguly’s leadership.
During his nine-year-long ODI career, Thorpe scored 21 half-centuries for England but was never able to reach the triple-figure mark. The unfortunate feat, however, helped him create a batting record for England, which is still in tact after 22 years.
Graham Thorpe’s record for England
- ODIs: 2380 runs and 2 wickets in 82 matches (21 half-centuries)
- Tests: 6744 runs in 100 matches (16 centuries, 39 fifties)
By not being able to score a century in his ODI career, Thorpe tops the list of batters with the most runs in ODIs for England without a hundred. Legendary Ian Botham is second on the list with 2113 runs in 116 ODIs and is followed by former England Ashes winning captain Michael Vaughan, who finished his career with 1982 runs in 86 matches.
Most runs for England without a 100 in ODIs
- Graham Thorpe – 2380 (Best score: 89)
- Ian Botham – 2113 (Best score: 79)
- Michael Vaughan – 1982 (Best score: 90*)
- Chris Woakes – 1524 (Best score: 95*)
- Matt Prior – 1282 (Best score: 87)
Thorpe made his Test debut for England under Graham Gooch’s leadership during the 1993 Ashes series against Allan Border-led Australia. He was included in the playing XI for the third Test, which was played in Nottingham from July 1 to 5. Thorpe came out to bat No. 6 in the first inning but was only able to score six runs from 13 balls. However, in the second inning, he showed his class by remaining unbeaten on 114 runs from 280 balls.
ENG batters to score century on Test debut
- WG Grace – 152 vs Australia (1880)
- KS Ranjitsinhji – 154* vs Australia (1896)
- Pelham Warner – 132 vs South Africa (1899)
- Tip Foster – 287 vs Australia (1903)
- George Gunn – 119 vs Australia (1907)
- Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi – 102 vs Australia (1932)
- Bryan Valentine – 136 vs India (1933)
- Paul Gibb – 106 vs South Africa (1938)
- Billy Griffith – 140 vs West Indies (1948)
- Peter May – 138 vs South Africa (1951)
- Arthur Milton – 104* vs New Zealand (1958)
- John Hampshire – 107 vs West Indies (1969)
- Frank Hayes – 106 vs West Indies (1973)
- Graham Thorpe – 114* vs Australia (1993)
- Andrew Strauss – 112 vs New Zealand (2004)
- Alastair Cook – 104* vs India (2006)
- Matt Prior – 126* vs West Indies (2007)
- Jonathan Trott – 119 vs Australia (2009)
- Keaton Jennings – 112 vs India (2016)
- Ben Foakes – 107 vs Sri Lanka (2018)
During his 12-year-long Test career, Thorpe played 100 Tests and scored 6744 runs. He smashed 16 centuries and 39 fifties in 179 innings. His last red-ball match for the English team was against Bangladesh at Chester-le-Street in June 2005. He remained unbeaten on 66 runs from 85 balls in the first inning of the match, which the Michael Vaughan-led side won by a margin of an inning and 27 runs.
After retiring from international cricket, Thorpe became the batting coach of England’s white-ball teams in 2013. He also served as England’s interim head coach during the T20I series against Pakistan in 2020 and during the fourth Test of the 2021-22 Ashes series in Australia. He was dismissed from his role after England’s 0-4 defeat.
He was named as Afghanistan’s head coach in March 2022 but fell seriously ill before beginning the role.
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