BACK in 2012, Graham Thorpe championed the cause of Joe Root to break into England’s Test team.
Having worked with Root as lead batting coach for the Lions, Thorpe knew the quality the Yorkshireman possessed. His judgement was proved right.
Seven years on from his debut against India at Nagpur, Root is England’s best batsman and captain of the Test team. Thorpe is now the England batting coach across all formats after the demotion of Mark Ramprakash last month.
It is his bond with Root that is believed to have paved the way for that promotion for Thorpe, who has been hugely popular with the players in his role as batting coach of England’s white ball teams over the past five years. As well as helping get the one-day team ready for this summer’s World Cup, Thorpe now has the added responsibility of preparing the Test batsmen ahead of the Ashes – no mean feat given the instability of England’s top six in the longest format.
But Thorpe, who will turn 50 on the opening day of the Ashes series at Edgbaston on August 1, is relishing the challenge ahead.
“It is exciting,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’ve worked with the one-day sides over the years and also the Lions in different formats. The way I look at it is making sure people are in a good place every time they go out and play. I think that’s such an important thing at that level, the mental side of things. It’s making sure the players are in a really good state of mind.
This story is from the April 12,2019 edition of The Cricket Paper.
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This story is from the April 12,2019 edition of The Cricket Paper.
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