Tributes – Cricketed

I wrote a tribute to Graham Thorpe soon after I heard of this death. But I felt I had ‘missed the spot’ so I took it down. A few days later I realised that the entire cricket world might have missed the spot.

Graham Thorpe died of multiple injuries following an attempt to take his own life. It was not his first attempt and, as a result, he had spent time in hospital in the past. The cricketing world went from sadness to a deep sense of mourning. One cannot escape feeling that cricket failed Graham Thorpe, who clearly did not realise how much he was loved and respected by cricket watchers – particularly a certain generation of England fans who watched England in the 1990s. Cricket has a responsibility to Thorpe’s family to try not to fail any more cricketers. Wider than that, we ALL have that responsibility not to fail each other, because any of us could fall into the kind of spiral that Thorpe suffered.

I would not want to talk about Graham Thorpe’s challenges in his personal life. That is not my place. I recommend you read Thorpe’s book to find out more about that. All I would say is that many people respected Thorpe because he faced the type of difficulties many other people face. I do not think anyone would claim he got it all right – who does? – but that is not really the point. Seeing a gifted sportsman face the challenges of every day life and do his best to get through them was quite powerful. Thorpe was the first cricketer I know of who wanted to share some of that for the good of future generations. Marcus Trescothick and Jonathan Trott would follow suit in later years.

Unlike seemingly all of Thorpe’s teammates, I cannot share that experience of chatting to Thorpe over a glass of wine in a hotel room. I never even met him, though I once patted him on the back as he walked off the ground. That is as close as I ever got. But one of the trends in other tributes from people that got close to Thorpe is that he was great to talk to. Nasser Hussan talked of going to Thorpe on his darkest days. Joe Root said that Thorpe had an ability to make things simple (paraphrased). I think it might be a common trend. Perhaps to people facing ongoing mental health challenges, winning and losing a test match or scoring a pair at Lords does not seem top priority. Certainly, I cannot think of a cricketer that seems to have been so popular with other cricketers – whether that might be teammates or people whom Thorpe coached.

I have sat and watched many highlights of Thorpe batting in the last couple of weeks. He used to come out with this serious and stern expression in his eyes, and I used to take comfort as an England fan. Thorpe will sort it out – it was usually 20/2 or 50/3. Looking back, I think it was a facial expression that betrayed a certain nervousness – but I did not see that at the time. I just saw England’s best player of the time – because I am very much an England fan of that generation who came to have such respect for Graham Thorpe.

So my memories will be the cricket – and despite the sad circumstances of Thorpe’s death, we should not forget the cricket. I watched the highlights of Thorpe’s debut hundred in 1993, and in 1994 and 1995 I was really getting into it. Thorpe always seemed to come out and get 70 – and he was actually criticised for not getting hundreds. It seemed harsh to me – in the 1994/5 Ashes, Thorpe did score a hundred – one of only two England players to get to three figures in any of the Ashes test matches, the other being Mike Gatting. But by 1997 the hundreds started to come – memorably against Australia in 1997 at Edgbaston. Thorpe shared a massive partnership with Nasser Hussain who also scored a century – it cannot be a coincidence that some of Hussain’s best efforts came in partnership with Thope. I will never forget watching that test match – the 13 year old Edward really did think we were going to win the Ashes. The Aussies got it together and eventually won 3-2 – the closest Ashes series between 1986-7 and 2005 – and Thorpe had a fine series.

The late 90s saw Thorpe face personal difficulties and back problems, but by 2000 he was a proper player – not just someone who made nice 80s. He scored an amazing hundred in Pakistan featuring only 1 boundary, got England over the line in the dark and had a fine tour of Sri Lanka. A year later, he scored England’s quickest ever double century at the time – against New Zealand. What versatility. Then another enforced break before his twilight turn – a final 18 month run in the England side where Thorpe scored runs galore – most memorably in Barbados in a performance that Bob Willis said was marvellous and masterful. Its the Edgbaston and Barbados innings that I remember the best.

After such a fine career, he became a coach and was clearly popular. That he had such an impact on the career of Joe Root – both in spotting him and getting him on the India tour in 2012 and in getting Root to be more ruthless leading to big scores since 2020 – is an amazing achievement in itself. Thorpe clearly faced his own demons for many years, but it seems that while he was in the team environment he was able to get the best out of life. It seemed brutal at the time when Thorpe was sacked as batting coach after a horrific away Ashes series. Yes, England’s batting was awful, but everything about that tour was extremely difficult because of Covid restrictions. It seemed like Thorpe was the wrong victim, but in the context of that tour, perhaps nobody should have been a victim. Imagine the impact Thorpe might have had on the Bazball era. Instead, Thorpe was sacked. It surely cannot be a coincidence that a few months later, he was in hospital. After an horrible tour combined with the loss of that dressing room environment, I wonder what support was given?

Nasser Hussain showed real emotion when he said on Sky that his greatest sadness was that he was not around for Thorpe’s darkest days. I do not think Hussin should blame himself, but I do think Hussain would want us all to learn a lesson. Are we around for our friends on the darkest days? We cannot fix every problem for our friends, but we can at least try.

How could I not say something today about Shane Warne today after today’s news? It was announced today that Warne has died, aged 52. This news came just hours after the sad news about Rod Marsh who was before my time. Somehow, Warne is more shocking to me. I remember that first test match against England, and “The Gatting destroyer” which set the tone for the next 15 years.

Think Shane Warne, think of totally lost batsmen. Mike Gatting in 1993, Alec Stewart in 1994 (the ‘flipper’) just for starters. Not to mention Devon Malcolm. And I shudder at the memory of Mark Ramprakash (who did ok against Warne) and Sir Andrew Strauss, in different decades, leaving balls that were miles outside the stumps….to be clean bowled (at least Gatting was playing a shot).

Shane Warne was the name that struck fear into the heart of an England fan. Yes, we think of Warne alongside Glen McGrath, and McGrath was a fabulous and very accurate bowler. But Warne was something else.

I have very clearly stolen this picture from the BBC. Because it was hard to find an early picture of Warne, with the 4-ex sponsor and the peroxide blond which in 1993 was outrageous. Fred Truman commented that it was surprising he did not have a pony tail but changed his tune when he got Mike Gatting.

In 1993, England were not a particularly good team, though I would argue a better team than England in 2022 (that is another conversation). But it did seem like England could bat. Graham Gooch, Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart and Robin Smith sound like a good top 4. Graeme Hick had belted Warne all over the place in a warmup game. And then, of course, Mike Gatting, one of the best players of spin around. I was at school, but I saw the highlights. Gatting looking at Ian Healy – “surely you knocked those bails off mate”. Dickie Bird was in shock. So was I, and I knew it was coming. Perhaps the only person not to be surprised by ‘the Gatting destroyer’ was Richie Benaud who calmly uttered the words “He’s done it” on television. On the other channel, Tony Lewis was a bit more flustered; “now what’s happened”. All of a sudden, England could not bat.

In 1995 it was the hat-trick and David Boon taking THAT catch, in 1997 it was dancing on the balcony at Trent Bridge. I mean, he took 195 wickets against England without even taking part in the 1999 series. Poor old Stuart MacGill would have been a guaranteed selection in any other era for Australia.

Of course, Warne’s career spanned eras – not many bowlers would have been able to claim wickets of Gooch and Gatting alongside Strauss and Kevin Pietersen. Arguably, only Gooch had any mastery of Warne – who greeted Gooch by saying “Good morning Mr Gooch”. That meant that he came under the influence of Allan Border, who taught him (and Australia) how to be a winner – for example by hiding all his variations in that warmup against Hick. Then Mark Taylor was tactically brilliant. He knew what to do with Warne. Steve Waugh was brilliant enough that he was not intimidated by Warne – he even dropped him in the West Indies. I think that gave Warne the determination to carry on. Ricky Ponting was an average captain but Warne knew his game by then.

What was it about Shane Warne? Obviously, he was darn good which helps. But the thing was that he knew when to deploy his skill. Consider the Adelaide disaster in 2006. Australia could not win that game after England scored 550, surely? Well, firstly Warne tied England down. He led them into a great big hole. Then he pounced. I cannot share any more from that miserable day – but look here if you must.

More than anything though, Warne never gave up. I first saw that in 1997 when England thrashed Australia at Edgebaston (another false dawn). Nasser Hussain scored 207 and took Warne apart…until Warne came up with a perfect ball and Hussain was gone. England still won, and Warne never gave up (he was also Australia’s top scorer in the first innings of that game).

Picture courtesy of Sky Sports. Finally, Warne got his man.

The ‘never say die’ was more obvious in 2005. England won the Ashes – just. Yes, Warne dropped THAT catch which added 18 months to his career. Warne kept bowling and bowling. Then he became a world-beating allrounder, almost out of nowhere. Imagine if he had not kicked his stumps at Edgebaston? His 90 at Old Trafford was the difference between a draw and a loss. And at Trent Bridge he took 4/31 and Matthew Hoggard had to hit the winning runs. Gosh, it was close.

In 2009 I felt that England would win the Ashes at home – and they did. The only time I got concerned was when they talked about Warne making a come-back. He was probably right not to, but I think just by being in the team he could have induced 2 or 3 collapses of 2021 proportions. By saying silly things (see Ian Bell, The Shermanator), pulling funny faces (1994 hat-trick) and inventing new names for his deliveries (what even was the Zooter) he got batsmen to do crazy things and reduced Robin Smith to a gibbering wreck. It was such a relief when he packed it in! Though of course, he went on to be an amazing part of the Hampshire team and did a few other things pretty successfully.

England fans like me loved to hate Warne. Even on television, as a commentator, he drove me mad but was annoyingly good. As a bowler he was brilliant. But he was a showman. I sat in the crowd at Old Trafford in 1997 while thousands of England fan’s sang “You fat *******” and “who ate all the pies” and Warne turned round and joined in! But even I had to chuckle when he danced on the balcony at Trent Bridge, having once again retained the urn.

Lord Botham says Warne was a legend on and off the field. Cricket will not see the like again.

Trent Bridge 1997. Being an England fan was not easy.

On this sad day for Australian cricket, I do not want to ignore Rod Marsh. He was before my time, but I have seen many replays of that famous catch off Gary Gilmore in 1975. It is always wonderful to hear Jim Laker as well (he was just the best!). That catch is included here, along with a nice interview with Allan Knott, surely Marsh’s contemporary.

Category: Tributes

GP Thorpe: 1st August 1969 – 4th August 2024

S.K. Warne