On August 5, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the death of legendary cricketer Graham Thorpe. In a devastating interview, Graham Thorpe’s wife Amanda revealed that the former England cricketer took his own life after battling depression and anxiety for a prolonged period.
Graham Thorpe had been battling serious illness since 2022, which led him to turn down the role of Afghanistan’s head coach that year. He is survived by his wife, Amanda, and two daughters, Kitty, 22, and Emma, 19.
The former batsman is also survived by his first wife, Nicky, and children, Henry and Amelia. A memorial service was held in Farnham on August 10 for Thorpe, who played for Surrey for 17 years and earned 100 caps for England.
Graham Thorpe had been feeling very unwell recently – Amanda
Speaking to The Times, Graham Thorpe’s wife Amanda shared that her husband was suffering from deep depression and anxiety. She revealed that he was feeling very unwell lately and believed his family would be better off without him. Amanda said that she made a serious suicide attempt in May 2022.
“Despite having a wife and two daughters who he loved and who loved him, he did not improve. He had been very unwell in recent times and genuinely believed we would be better off without him and we are devastated by his attitude and his suicide. For the past two years Graham had been suffering from severe depression and anxiety,” Amanda told The Times.
“This led to him attempting suicide in May 2022, forcing him to spend a long time in intensive care. Despite glimmers of hope and old Graham, he continued to suffer from depression and anxiety, which at times became very severe. We supported him as a family and he tried many, many treatments, but sadly, none of them seemed to work.”
Graham Thorpe represented England in 100 Test matches and 82 ODIs between 1993 and 2005. The former left-handed batsman scored 6,744 runs in Test matches at an average of 44.66, including 16 centuries. He also scored nearly 20,000 runs for Surrey between 1988 and 2005 before retiring from all forms of cricket.
Thorpe amassed 2,380 runs in ODIs at an average of 37.18, including 21 half-centuries. He retired from the format in 2002 but continued to play Test cricket until 2005. Thorpe performed well in the 1996 and 1999 World Cups. He also captained the national cricket team in three ODIs in Sri Lanka in 2001.
In addition to his successful playing career, the former middle-order batsman served as England’s batting coach and assistant coach. He also took on the role of interim head coach during the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing the T20I series against Pakistan in 2020 and the fourth Ashes Test in 2021-22.
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