The most complete England batter since the Gooch-Gower era, Graham Thorpe began his Test career in 1993 with an Ashes century - the first England player in 20 years to score a hundred on debut - and repeated the feat on the return tour, in Perth in February 1995. He had the ability to attack against pace or spin, like Alec Stewart, and defend, like Mike Atherton, and was the best all-round fielder in the team.

Thorpe's Test best was a match-winning effort in the famous 2002 Christchurch Test in which Nathan Astle's record-breaking 222 nearly overshadowed Thorpe's 200 not out (off 231 balls). He averaged over 65 in New Zealand at the end of that series, having scored back-to-back hundreds on the previous tour there.

Thorpe's first trip to the subcontinent came seven years into his career. He made a hundred in Lahore, and memorably scored the winning runs in fading light in Karachi to clinch England's first series win in Pakistan in 39 years. A few months later, in March 2001, he scored crucial runs to seal a 2-1 win in Sri Lanka.

In 2002, with his marriage crumbling in full view of the tabloids, Thorpe retired from ODIs and took an indefinite break from the game, having earlier become the first Englishman to tour ten consecutive winters. On his return, for the final Test against South Africa at The Oval in 2003, he delighted everyone with a century that helped set up England's astonishing comeback to draw the series 2-2.

From then till the end of his Test career two years later, Thorpe scored 1511 runs at 54, coinciding with a successful run for England, and finishing on 100 Tests, against Bangladesh at the start of the 2005 season. When he was omitted from the Ashes squad to face Australia at Lord's, he called it quits, and went on to work as a batting coach after retirement.