During the first Test match with Sri Lanka in Manchester on August 21st, the England cricket squad wore black armbands to commemorate Graham Thorpe, who died recently. He had a good career, playing 100 Tests and 82 ODIs for England, scoring more than 9000 runs. He was a coach for the England team in 2019-20 and also worked as a TV commentator for BBC and Sky Sports. In 2006, he got an MBE award.
Before the match, players and fans gave a shoutout to Thorpe on the big screen, celebrating everything he did for English cricket.
England’s stand-in captain, Ollie Pope, shared a heartfelt memory of Thorpe. He said,
“I remember him saying one thing to me, which was: ‘Never let the runs you’re scoring define you as a person.’ In a bit of a rut when you’re young, that was exactly what I needed to hear. It shows, for me, what a people’s person he was. He’s such a sad loss to everyone: to the country, his family and the boys as well. He’s missed, and we’ll honor him this week.”
Former England captain Joe Root also paid tribute to Thorpe, calling him an inspiration. Root told Sky Sports,
“He was the complete batter, like a rock star who could sing you a ballad and rock your socks off at the same time. I always looked up to him and took a lot of inspiration from him.”
Root added,
“I worked very closely with him for 12 years or so. He had a huge influence on my career and arguably without his backing and pushing my case, I may not have had the career I have had.”
Root is England’s leading run-scorer in Tests with 12,027 runs.
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