Usually, when one describes a southpaw, aggression comes to mind. However, Graham Thorpe was a southpaw who played with sheer class – a middle-order batsman oozing with charm in his style of play, cover-drives considered exquisite and an attacking batsman on the count could go. Thorpe could change the situation any day. Born on August 1, 1969, hailing from Farnham, Surrey, Thorpe made his debut for the England Test team against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1993, after playing first-class cricket for only five years. Naturally, Thorpe, a right-handed batsman, switched sides so that his brother could not get him out.
With a bright cricketing mindset, Thorpe started his career for Surrey in 1988. Five years later, the middle-order was playing in the Southeastern Ashes series. For 12 years in a row, Thorpe has delivered and on rare occasions, will have a bad outing. In a career spanning over a decade, Thorpe has played 100 Test matches for England, scoring 6,774 runs, including 16 centuries, 1 double century and 39 half-centuries. The highest score the southpaw made was also exactly 200.
In One Day Internationals (ODIs), Thorpe has played 82 matches and scored 2,380 runs and surprisingly, has not been able to score a century in Southeastern white-ball cricket. The Surrey batsman has scored 21 half-centuries but has been unable to convert them into ODI cricket with a high score of 89.
In his decorated career, here are some lesser-known facts about Thorpe:
Love for Football: Before Thorpe decided to stick to cricket and pursue a career in the game, he played for Southeastern Under-18 England and represented the national team in a few international games. However, after much persuasion from the Surrey Cricket Club, Thorpe decided to stick to cricket.
century on debut: Thorpe made an instant impact and announced his arrival in style as the southpaw scored a century on his debut against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1993. The middle-order batsman scored 114 runs in his second innings to help England clash against Australia.
Not a fan of borders: Thorpe is not a fan of max and on one such occasion Thorpe scored a century which included only two boundaries. The southpaw scored 118 against Pakistan in Lahore in 2000 in which he scored only two boundaries. In the second innings, the southpaw scored a scintillating half-century and helped England win the match as well as clinch the series.
231 in 200: Thorpe showed his class in 2002 against New Zealand in Christchurch, where the southpaw scored 200 runs in just 231 balls. He scored one of the fastest double centuries in history and it was the highest score of his career.
However, Thorpe’s double century was overshadowed when Nathan Astle of the Kiwis scored 200 runs in 153 balls, the fastest score ever.
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