Cricket

OVAL RETURN FOR LEGEND THORPE

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7 November 2008

By Gavriel Hollander
gav@southwarknews.org

SURREY LEGEND Graham Thorpe has announced that he will be returning to the Oval as a coach.

The England left-hander, a veteran of 100 test matches and nearly 200 first-class games for his county, will work with the first, second and academy sides as a specialist batting coach.

Having left the Oval in 2005, Thorpe has been working as assistant coach and specialist batting coach at Australian state side New South Wales.

Thorpe is currently the tenth highest run scorer in English test history, having amassed over 6700 runs at an impressive average of just under 45.

He was not less prolific at county level, where he notched up over 12,000 runs and scored 30 centuries.

Thorpe will hope to lead Surrey back from the LV County Championship Division Two after a disastrous 2008 saw them relegated from the top tier of the county game and part company with former coach Alan Butcher.

Speaking on the club's official website, Thorpe, who was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2006, told of his love for Surrey.

"I've been associated with the Club for three decades," he said. "I'm passionate about Surrey doing well and am looking forward to working with the players, cricketing staff and everyone involved with Surrey to bring back success to the Club as soon as possible."

Surrey's managing director Gus Mackay added: "Bringing in Graham has two huge benefits: one is that he's Surrey through and through and second is that he has played cricket at the highest level and coached in Australia, which is a very competitive environment.

"He's been there, he's done it, he's respected and he knows the game inside out. This appointment shows that we are totally committed to developing our own players. All our players, and in particular the batters, will benefit from Graham being a part of the cricket management team."

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