'Nothing Without His Backing': Joe Root Opens On Relationship With Late Graham Thorpe

Star England batter and former captain Joe Root hailed late English great Graham Thorpe, noting that he would have not enjoyed such a brilliant career with the Three Lions without his backing. England players will pay tribute to the late batter before the start of the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Manchester on Wednesday. The teams will be lining up for a moment of applause before their national anthems at the Old Trafford Stadium, with a tribute video being played on the big screen. Broadcaster Sky Sports will also be paying tribute to the batter in their coverage.

Thorpe died by suicide at the age of 55 on August 4, after years of battle with what his wife Amanda described as "major depression and anxiety". Thorpe made his international debut in 1993 and was the mainstay of the English batting throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. The southpaw played 100 Tests and scored 6744 runs at an average of 44.66, with 16 hundreds and 39 fifties to his name. His highest score was 200*. In ODIs, the gritty batter scored 2380 runs at an average of 37.18 with 21 fifties.

Root, who worked with Thorpe during his days with England Lions as an up-and-coming batter rising through the ranks and then later with the England senior team in the late 2010s and early 2020s as one of the all-time greats, said that Thorpe was a "complete batter", a "rockstar: and helped him improve his game, especially in subcontinent conditions.

"He was one of the players that stood out in that time [for England in the 1990s and early 2000s]. He was one of the guys that consistently performed when things were tough and when results were not always going in our favour, which I think is a great quality to have," said Root as quoted by Sky Sports.

"Even