Happy Birthday, Graham Thorpe

August 1(CRICKETNMORE) - Former England batsman Graham Thorpe turns 48 today. The left handed batsman represented England in 100 tests and 82 ODIs and has been a consistent performer for the side in 90’s who played many important knocks for England

CRICKTNMORE picks 10 interesting facts about the former England batsman:

1. Graham Thorpe was born in Farnham, Surrey, in August 1969.

2. A right-handed batsman in his childhood, Graham Thorpe changed his stance to become a left-hander so that he could hit more boundaries in the garden which was shorter on the leg-side

3. He made test debut against Australia in 1993 Ashes and scored a century (114 not out) in the second innings of the test at Trent Bridge.

4. In an important test century against Pakistan, Thorpe hit only one four in his hundred at Lahore in November 2000. This is among the fewest ever boundaries in a Test century. He hit another boundary before being dismissed for 118 from 301 balls.

5. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1998. For his enormous contribution to world cricket, he was conferred with MBE honour by the British monarchs in 2006.

6. Post retirement, he has involved himself in coaching teams and grooming young talents. He has also written a lot of columns for popular English media houses.

Test Hat-Tricks by England Bowlers

7. Thorpe often struggled in his personal life and to save it he took the retirement form ODI in 2002 but this couldn’t save his marriage. He returned back in test cricket and played till 2005. The conflict between Thorpe and his wife – Nicky over various issues hogged the limelight of English media several times.

8. Thorpe has been an advocate for a movement called ‘Fathers 4 Justice.’ After his bitter separation with his wife, he wasn’t able to see his children as frequently as he would have liked. Thorpe is thus one of the famous people supporting the movement that speaks up for fathers’ rights.

9. As a young boy, Graham Thorpe was also picked for England U-18 Football team.

10. Statistics:

Test Debut - 1st July 1993 vs Australia

Test - 100, Runs - 6744, 100s - 16, 50s - 39, HS - 200*, Avg. - 44.66

ODI Debut - 19th May 1993 vs Australia

ODI - 82, Runs - 2380, 50s - 21, HS - 89, Avg. - 37.18

England Cricket also wished Thorpe on his Birthday

Sahir