England Cricket Team to Honor Graham Thorpe Before Test Match Against Sri Lanka in Manchester

England players will pay tribute to the late batter Graham Thorpe before the start of the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Manchester on Wednesday. The teams will line up for a moment of applause before their national anthems at the Old Trafford Stadium, with a tribute video being played on the big screen. Broadcaster Sky Sports will also pay tribute to the batter in their coverage.

Thorpe committed suicide at the age of 55 on August 4, after years of battling major depression and anxiety, as described by his wife Amanda. Thorpe made his international debut in 1993 and was a mainstay of the English batting lineup throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. He played 100 Tests, scoring 6744 runs at an average of 44.66, with 16 hundreds and 39 fifties. His highest score was 200*. In ODIs, he scored 2380 runs at an average of 37.18 with 21 fifties.

Thorpe was also the team’s batting coach and assistant coach until the 2021-22 Ashes tour to Australia, which England lost 4-0. He was an influential figure in the English dressing room, having worked with most of the squad playing the Sri Lanka series. Thorpe helped star players Joe Root and Ben Stokes flourish in their careers. Notably, in his first Test as a full-time skipper, Stokes wore a jersey bearing Thorpe’s name to the toss following Thorpe’s suicide attempt that left him seriously ill.

Stand-in skipper Ollie Pope confirmed that players will wear black armbands in memory of Thorpe, calling him a ‘great man.’ Pope reminisced about playing for England with Thorpe as their batting coach and shared his greatest advice: ‘Never let the runs you are scoring define you as a person.’ Pope added, ‘He was loved in the changing room. He is such a sad loss to everyone: to the country, his family, and the boys as well. He is missed, and we will honor him this week.’

The opening of an inquest into Thorpe’s death last week heard that he died due to ‘traumatic injuries’ after being struck by a train at Esher Railway Station in Surrey on the morning of August 4.

Lancashire, the county that uses Old Trafford Stadium as their home stadium, will also recognize the career of legendary pacer James Anderson, who retired from international cricket last month with 704 Test wickets and 991 international wickets. His achievements will be celebrated on the outfield during the lunch interval, and former England batter Michael Atherton will make a presentation for him.