Graham Thorpe will be remembered on 1 August, the second day of the England-India Test at the Kia Oval, with a fund-raiser simply titled ‘Day for Thorpey’. The date would have marked Thorpe’s 56th birthday, and comes almost a year after the former England and Surrey left-hander ended his own life, aged 55.
Surrey, the ECB and Thorpe’s family have linked up with the mental-health charity Mind to run the day. Supporters will be invited to buy limited-edition headbands – an affectionate nod to the thin white band Thorpe wore throughout his 100-Test career – designed by his wife, Amanda, and daughters Kitty and Emma. All profits go to Mind and to a new grassroots scheme, ‘Thorpey’s Bat and Chat’, which uses club-cricket nets as a safe space for conversations about wellbeing.
Amanda Thorpe told BBC Breakfast: “That day will be very powerful. We want to celebrate him and his memory. His light was so bright. He’ll go on.”
Kitty added: “Death and grief in general isn’t talked about enough, considering it happens to everyone. It surrounds us. When you add the layer of death by suicide, that makes it even more taboo.
“I understand it’s difficult to talk about – people don’t want to say the wrong thing. That doesn’t help tackle the stigma around it. We need to change the way we’re addressing the topic. That’s why we’re working with Mind to do something to help that.”
Thorpe retired in 2005 with 6,744 Test runs at 44.66, his compact technique and late cuts often anchoring England’s middle order. In 1993 he became the first England batter for 20 years to score a hundred on debut, doing so against Australia at Trent Bridge.
Coaching followed, including a spell as England assistant that took in the 2021-22 Ashes, staged entirely under strict Covid protocols. The tour ended 4-0 to Australia, Thorpe lost his post, and an offer to coach Afghanistan never materialised after a first suicide attempt in May 2022.
“Working in the Covid bubbles, he found that tough,” Amanda said. “He wasn’t great at following rules at the best of times.
“It was all very stressful and he wasn’t great on that trip. Then he came back, and, as happens, his job ended, then he got offered another job. It was hard for him, probably harder than we knew. He got a lot worse then, very quickly, actually.”
Alongside the Oval tribute, the family hope ‘Thorpey’s Bat and Chat’ expands beyond its pilot sessions in Burton-on-Trent. Emma Thorpe explained: “My dad was quite a private person, so for us to share his and our experience is important to help other people who have gone through similar things. To start a conversation, to reduce the shame and stigma there are around these conversations.”
Tickets for the Oval Test remain on sale; organisers expect day-two spectators to arrive early, buy a headband, and pause for a video tribute before the first ball. The hope is a full house and frank conversation – fitting, perhaps, for a player whose square-cut always went straight to the point.
