England cricket legend and former coach Graham Thorpe dies aged 55 as Michael Vaughan and Ben Stokes lead tributes to 100-Test batter who scored 16 centuries in 12-year international career

Legendary England cricketer Graham Thorpe has died aged 55, with Michael Vaughan and Ben Stokes leading tributes to the former England batter.

Thorpe made his international debut in 1993 and scored a century on his first Ashes appearance, becoming the first England player to do so in 20 years.

He was an England regular and went on to play 100 Tests, scoring 16 centuries and featuring 82 times for the ODI side, as well as enjoying a 17-year career with Surrey.

His final Test appearance came in June 2005 before he was omitted from that summer’s victorious Ashes series and called time on his international career. 

Thorpe is survived by his second wife Amanda, whom he married in 2007, and four children, Henry, Amelia, Kitty and Emma. He separated from first wife Nicola in 2002.

Vaughan, who captained Thorpe towards the end of his Test career, wrote on X: ‘RIP Thorpey. Thanks for all the advice throughout my career, you were a great player and a brilliant team-mate. You have gone far too young but you leave as an England cricket legend… Thoughts with all who knew Thorpey and to all the family xxx.’

And Stokes tweeted five love heart emojis next to a picture of Thorpe with 564 on his shirt, denoting his Test cap number.

Graham Thorpe with his wife Amanda, children Kitty, then three, and Emma, then 20 months old, at his MBE investiture at Buckingham Palace in London on July 12, 2007

Graham Thorpe, pictured playing for England on August 15, 2004, has died at the age of 55

Current England opener Ben Duckett wrote on X: ‘Heartbreaking to see Thorpey has passed away. He was one of my heroes growing up and I was fortunate to work with him. My thoughts go out to all of his friends and family during this tough time.’

A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board 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.

‘More than one of England’s finest-ever batters, he was a beloved member of the cricket family and revered by fans all over the world.

‘His skill was unquestioned, and his abilities and achievements across a 13-year international career brought so much happiness to his teammates and England and Surrey CCC supporters alike.

‘Later, as a coach, he guided the best England Men’s talent to some incredible victories across all formats of the game.

Thorpe at a Surrey County Cricket Club photocall at the Oval in London on April 5, 2005

Graham Thorpe holds a beer with Mark Butcher on April 3, 2004 

Graham Thorpe celebrates winning the Test series on June 13, 2004

‘The cricket world is in mourning today. Our hearts go out to his wife Amanda, his children, father Geoff, and all of his family and friends during this unimaginably difficult time. We will always remember Graham for his extraordinary contributions to the sport.’

Thorpe stayed in the game after his retirement from playing, moving to New South Wales where he worked with a young Steve Smith and David Warner.

He returned to work with England between 2010 and 2022.

Thorpe took charge of his country in the familiar surroundings of the Sydney Cricket Ground after Chris Silverwood was laid low by coronavirus, securing a nailbiting draw to avoid a seemingly inevitable Ashes whitewash.

Steve Elworthy, Surrey chief executive, said: ‘Everyone associated with the club is devastated by the tragic news of Graham’s passing. He achieved remarkable feats for club and country and was a hero to so many cricket fans.

Thorpe (right) with England’s Nasser Hussain (left) and Michael Atherton (centre) in 2000

Thorpe leaves the field, after his century during the fourth day of the third Test Match between England and New Zealand at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on June 13, 2004

England batsman Graham Thorpe (right) with Geraint Jones (left) on March 27, 2004

‘Our thoughts and condolences are with Graham’s family and friends, to whom we will offer any support that we are able to. We ask that everyone respects the privacy of the family at this incredibly difficult time.’

Thorpe’s former county Surrey also described him as one of their ‘great sons’.

Chair Oli Slipper said: ‘He is a legend of Surrey and brought great pride to the Club wearing both the Three Feathers and the Three Lions.

‘He made outstanding contributions to the Club as a cricketer, and as a man, and he will be so sorely missed.’

During his playing career, Thorpe averaged an impressive 44.7 runs in Test matches.

His highest score was 200 not out and the talented middle-order batsmen also played 77 One Day Internationals.

One of his most memorable Test innings came in 2000 against Pakistan in Karachi. After a final day implosion from the hosts, Thorpe produced an unbeaten 64 in near darkness towards the end of his innings to lead England to their first series win in Pakistan for 39 years, and Pakistan’s first loss at the National Stadium in 35 years.

England batting coach Graham Thorpe and Joe Root on August 20, 2019

Graham Thorpe on December 16, 2005

Thorpe at a signing for his book ‘Rishing from the Ashes’ in Chelmsford in September 2005

‘I think literally five to ten minutes after we came off, it was pitch black,’ Thorpe told Cricket Monthly. ‘From the dressing room, coming back on to the balcony, it was pitch black.

‘We opened up bottles of lemonade, because we couldn’t drink in Pakistan. We were on a flight back to Dubai that evening, where we did have a few Guinnesses. There was about a two-hour turnaround from the end of the game, back to the hotel and on to a flight that night.’

Thorpe racked up more than 2,000 runs in the shorter format of the game and his intelligence and leadership allowed a smooth transition into coaching when he retired from playing in 2006.

He went on to begin a coaching career in Australia, where he worked with the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner at New South Wales, before joining the England and Wales Cricket Board as a batting coach.

Graham Thorpe on December 29, 2004

Graham Thorpe at his MBE Investiture at Buckingham Palace in London on July 12, 2007

England’s Joe Root (right) talks with Thorpe during the Ashes in Sydney on January 9, 2022

He worked as assistant with the senior side under Trevor Bayliss and Chris Silverwood, stepping up to lead the team in this winter’s Sydney Test against Australia due to Silverwood’s coronavirus diagnosis.

His position as England assistant coach looked untenable after the conclusion of the Ashes , when police were called to the team hotel in Hobart while he was smoking a cigar during a rooftop drinking session inside the premises that lasted until 6am.

It was an unfortunate ending to Thorpe’s role in the England coaching set-up and he is still held in enormously high regard among players and fans.

In May, the Professional Cricketers’ Association revealed Thorpe had fallen seriously ill with an unclear diagnosis. His cause of death has not yet been revealed. 

Graham Thorpe obituary: Classy batter who helped carry England during the lean 1990s

By Rory Dollard

During an era of English cricket that is most often remembered for its lean years, Graham Thorpe established himself as a player with the class and calibre to stand above the crowd.

Most England fans might happily forget the 90s entirely were it not for the emergence of Thorpe, who burst on to the scene in 1993 with an Ashes century on Test debut and bowed out with a hundred caps to his name 12 years later.

Such longevity was an achievement in itself at a time when team selection often appeared to be determined by lucky dip and the left-hander played a variety of roles during his time at the top.

Running the gamut from stylish newcomer to grizzled veteran, Thorpe – who has died aged 55 – proved himself a dependably elite performer in an environment where chaos and collapse never seemed far away.

During a period when Australian dominance was at its relentless peak, the fact that Thorpe averaged more against the Baggy Greens than his career mark (45.74 against 44.66) spoke volumes of his ability to rise to a challenge.

Off the field, the battles were often even more intense. While operating in the full glare of international sport, Thorpe struggled with depression, divorce and drinking, culminating in a tumultuous winter in 2002 that saw him walk away from the game at what could have been his peak.

As he poignantly wrote in his autobiography, Rising from the Ashes: “There came a time when I would have given back all my Test runs and Test caps just to be happy again.”

There would be a celebratory second act with England, featuring an emotional comeback century at his lifelong home ground of the Oval, and a third when he became a key figure in the international coaching set-up.

He is survived by wife Amanda and four children, Henry, Amelia, Kitty and Emma.

Born on August 1, 1969 in the market town of Farnham, little more than an hour from The Oval, Thorpe was ahead of his years on a cricket pitch and remembered being drafted by local side Wrecclesham’s Under-17s while still only eight years old.

Although he would have to wait to get a bat in his hands, he recalled taking a catch – an early indicator of the safe hands that would make him a regular in the slip cordon and bring over 600 professional catches.

He was spotted early by Surrey, who picked him up as an under-11 and never let him go, even when Brentford Football Club came calling with the offer of trials.

Despite showing enough promise to be selected by England Schools as a ball-playing link between defence and midfield, Thorpe would go on to choose the summer sport and later became one of the country’s most accomplished players of spin. Once a sweeper, always a sweeper.

Thorpe would go on to become England’s best left-handed batter since David Gower and enjoyed an unlikely torch-passing moment on his first-class debut against Leicestershire when he took Gower’s wicket with his soon-to-be phased out medium-pacers.

He was a regular feature on the nascent England ‘A’ circuit for four years before finally graduating to the senior side, initially in one-day internationals and then, unforgettably, the Test arena.

Selected at Trent Bridge for the third match of the 1993 Ashes and dismissed by the combative Merv Hughes in the first innings, he struck an undefeated 114 in the second to become England’s first debutant centurion since Frank Hayes 20 years earlier.

He was one of four players to receive his cap in Nottingham and, while he would stick around for another 99, Mark Lathwell, Mark Ilott and Martin McCague managed a total of 10 appearances. Few stayed the course as long as Thorpe, but fewer still had such an ironclad claim.

Although his conversion rate between 50 and 100 left room for improvement – he could and should have retired with considerably more than 16 tons – his quality brooked no argument.

There was a first overseas century on the notoriously menacing Gabba pitch in Perth, another in Barbados against the might of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and a heroic 64 not out in the fading light of Karachi to seal England’s first series win in Pakistan for 39 years.

But the demands of touring and a faltering marriage to first wife Nicky, played out in excruciating detail through the newspapers, saw him retire from ODIs in 2002 before committing, then withdrawing, from that winter’s tour of Australia.

He was able to find enough peace to regain his place for the final Test against South Africa, greeted as a returning hero as he made 124 in front of an adoring South London crowd.

Thorpe’s final act as a player did not extend as far as the fabled 2005 Ashes – he was dropped for the series in favour of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen and retired thereafter – but by then he had already become just the eighth Englishman to reach 100 Test caps, securing a proud legacy along the way.

He stayed in the game with a move to New South Wales, where he worked with a young Steve Smith and David Warner, and returned to work with England between 2010 and 2022.

Thorpe took charge of his country in the familiar surroundings of the Sydney Cricket Ground after Chris Silverwood was laid low by coronavirus, securing a nailbiting draw to avoid a seemingly inevitable whitewash.

His final act with the team was to film an early hours get together between the two sides that ended with a call to the police and was leaked to the media.

It was a reminder that, in addition to being brilliant with bat in hand, Thorpe had always been one of England’s most reassuringly human athletes.