The former England batter and coach Graham Thorpe has been named as the new head coach of Afghanistan’s men’s team. Thorpe, 52, was sacked as England’s assistant coach following the backroom shake-up in the wake of the disastrous 4-0 Ashes series defeat in Australia.
England’s batsmen struggled desperately in Australia, failing to make 300 in a single innings, and Thorpe further attracted negative publicity for his involvement in an early-hours drinking session with players from both sides after the final Test. Police were called around 6am after the assistant coach smoked a cigar inside, the party was disbanded and somehow footage filmed by Thorpe of the incident made it into the public domain.
