England’s players will pay tribute to the late Graham Thorpe before the start of their Test series against Sri Lanka, which starts in Manchester on Wednesday.
Thorpe took his own life at the age of 55 on August 4, after suffering from what his widow Amanda described as “major depression and anxiety”. He was one of England’s greatest batters, averaging 44.66 in a 100-match Test career, and was later their batting coach and an assistant coach until leaving that role after the 2021-22 Ashes tour.
He worked with most of England’s squad for the Sri Lanka series in that role and was particularly influential in the careers of Joe Root and Ben Stokes. In his first Test as England’s full-time captain, Stokes wore a shirt bearing Thorpe’s name to the toss following a previous attempt on his own life which left him seriously ill in hospital.
“We’ll have our black armbands on throughout the course of the game and there’ll be a tribute to him before,” Ollie Pope, who is standing in for Stokes as captain, said on Tuesday. “It’s hurt a lot of people in that changing-room. He was a great man. I probably had two or three years playing with him as a batting coach. I really admired him.
“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 was loved in the changing-room. He’s such a sad loss to everyone: to the country, his family and the boys as well. He’s missed, and we’ll honour him this week.”
The teams will line up for a moment of applause before the national anthems at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday morning, with a tribute video played on the big screens. Sky sports will also pay tribute to Thorpe in their coverage, with many of their commentators counting him as a long-time team-mate and a close friend.
The opening of an inquest into Thorpe’s death heard last week that he died from “traumatic injuries” after being struck by a train at Esher railway station in Surrey on the morning of August 4.
Lancashire will also recognise James Anderson’s career throughout the Test, with Anderson due to ring the bell before the start of play, at the pavilion end of the ground which was named after him in 2017. They will celebrate his achievements as an England player on the outfield during the lunch interval, with Michael Atherton scheduled to make a presentation to him.
The club have sold around 14,500 advance tickets for the first two days of the Test, with Friday sold out.
