Graham Thorpe was one of those cricketers – and there have been quite a few – who seemed most in control of his life when at the crease with a bat in his hand during a tense Test match. Off the field, he experienced more than his fair share of turmoil; on it, he was calm and clinical, attributes that Test captains eagerly crave.
Thorpe is one of 17 to play 100 Tests for England and in that time he scored 6,744 runs at an average of 44.66, the figures of a great batter. He was not one of those beautiful, silky left-handers, but, by modern standards, he was pleasingly orthodox, uncomplicated and very clever, whatever the format.
