Former England cricketer and coach Graham Thorpe took his own life, his wife and children revealed on Monday. They said that he made this decision after suffering from severe depression and anxiety over the past two years.
Thorpe died at the age of 55, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on 6 August, but the former Surrey batter had been ill since May 2022. His wife Amanda disclosed that Graham made a serious attempt on his life two years ago and did not get better.
“For the past couple of years, Graham had been suffering from major depression and anxiety. Despite glimpses of hope of the old Graham, he continued to suffer from depression and anxiety, which at times got very severe. We supported him as a family and he tried many, many treatments but unfortunately none of them really seemed to work.”, Amanda told his former teammate Michael Atherton in the Times.
Thorpe played exactly 100 Tests for England and scored 16 centuries before retiring in 2005, having scored 6,744 runs at an average of 44.66 and went on to become England’s batting coach, a position he held until 2022.
