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| May 31, 2005 | Tuesday | Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1426 |
England mull over Thorpe’s future
LONDON, May 30: Graham Thorpe’s decision to commit himself to playing in Australia as of January will be considered by England’s selectors when they meet to pick the squad for the second Test against Bangladesh starting at Chester-le-Street on Friday.
The Surrey left-hander’s announcement that he’d signed a contract with New South Wales, that will rule him out of England’s tour of India, came on the eve of last week’s innings and 261 run first Test thumping of Bangladesh at Lord’s.
Now, with an Ashes series looming against Australia, the England hierarchy will have to decide soon if they want to blood someone else in the middle-order before then or stick with Thorpe, who is widely expected to announce his international retirement at the end of this English season.
The 35-year-old did his cause no harm by looking as eager as ever in scoring an unbeaten 42 against Bangladesh at Lord’s and it would be a surprise if he were left out Tuesday when the squad for the second and final match of the series against the Asian strugglers is announced on Tuesday.
If selected, Thorpe, who has scored 6,678 runs at an average of 44.22 with 16 hundreds, would become only the eighth Englishman to play in 100 Tests.
And while there would be neatness in him reaching three figures against Australia, the team he scored a century against on debut at Trent Bridge in 1993, Durham, not Lord’s in July, is likely to be the setting for Thorpe’s landmark game.
England coach Duncan Fletcher, one of four selectors, said of Thorpe’s prospects on Sunday: “We have a selection meeting tomorrow (Monday) and that will be discussed there. I can’t say anything about that at this stage.
“As far as I am concerned I found out about it on Tuesday. He told us he let us know as soon as he could. If Tuesday was the day, Tuesday was the day.”
Fletcher added: “Experience is very important when you are put into situations that we will probably face against Australia.
“He has shown before he is a tough, nuggety little player. He has fought in some really tough situations and got England out of trouble on numerous occasions.
“That is his strength and we have got to look at that when we sit down for selection and see if it would be advantageous to the side to face Australia.”
But in the meantime Fletcher insisted there could be no question of taking it easy on Bangladesh.
“You have to pick your best Test side,” he said. “We want to build up to play the Aussies, it is very important for guys to get decent cricket in an environment with 20,000 people watching.”
England have not won an Ashes series since Mike Gatting’s team triumphed in Australia back in 1986-87 and one man seen as crucial to ending that losing streak is Andrew Flintoff.
—AFP
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