The Oval paid tribute to late, great Surrey and England legend Graham Thorpe on day two of the fifth Test versus India, with limited-edition headbands sold to raise money for mental health charity Mind.
Thorpe – who made 182 appearances for England (100 Tests, 82 ODIs – took his own life on August 4 last year after a long struggle with anxiety and depression.
August 1 would have marked his 56th birthday so a ‘Day for Thorpey’ was held at the south London ground he called home while playing for Surrey between 1988 and 2005.
Thorpe famously wore a headband while batting during a career in which he scored over 6,700 Test runs for England and almost 22,000 across all first-class cricket.
Special headbands were available for £5 at The Oval, as well as online at shop.mind.org.uk and on the Mind eBay store.
England captain Ben Stokes wears a Thorpe-inspired headband at The Kia Oval
What is Thorpey’s Bat and Chat?
Funds raised from sales and donations will go to supporting the ‘Thorpey’s Bat and Chat’ initiative, which is to be rolled out across England and Wales.
The 12-week programme will combine cricket drills and making friends with talk about mental health, overseen by psychoeducation professionals.
Thorpe’s widow, Amanda, told Sky Sports: “It will help people who are suffering open up.
“People speak through their problems and the stigma is removed. People can think anxiety and depression is something to be ashamed of but it’s not. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It is okay not to be okay.”
Money will also go towards creating material to support the mental health of cricket coaches at all levels of the game.
Thorpe had coaching roles with Surrey, England and Afghanistan after his playing retirement.
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On a ‘Day for Thorpey’, Atherton and Nasser Hussain remembered a ‘tough cricketer’ and ‘outstanding team-mate’
‘Cricket can take you to dark places’
Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton were former team-mates of Thorpe’s and spoke ahead of play on Friday about the impact he made.
“He was an outstanding team-mate, a cherished player and much-loved part of a team that was not particularly successful but one that had a connection with the cricketing public,” said Atherton.
“If any small good can come out of what has happened it is raising money for a very important connection between cricket and mental health.
“There has been a long history of the game taking you into dark places as there is a lot of waiting and thinking.
“It is probably only in the last 20 years, since the publication of Marcus Trescothick’s book, that people have felt able to talk about it.
“I think after Graham’s playing career ended and we sat down with him I did start to sense that vulnerabilities but I don’t think any of us realised how significant they were.”
Thorpe played 100 Test matches for England between 1993 and 2005
‘Thorpe will be in many people’s favourite England XI’
Hussain added: “Graham will be in quite a few people’s greatest England XI at No 4, maybe not everyone’s, but if you asked fans and team-mates who would be in your favourite XI, a lot of people would say Graham.
“Fans and team-mates are not fools. They see people who when it matters, when it counts, when it’s at the toughest out there, they don’t hide and they walk into battle.
“That was Graham. He was probably the toughest cricketer I played with and that shows mental health is an illness, not a sign of weakness
“It was an illness Graham, I’m afraid, succumbed to. He was a top bloke and a top player.”
To donate, £5, £10 or £20, text THORPEY5, THORPEY10 or THORPEY20 to 70255.
