England players taking part in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka will pay tribute to the late Graham Thorpe during the Test at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday 21 August.
Ollie Pope, who will lead England throughout the series in the absence of Ben Stokes, has revealed that England players will wear black armbands during the first Test match in Manchester.
“We’ll be wearing our black armbands throughout the match and before that we’ll pay tribute to him,” Pope was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday. “It hurt a lot of people in that dressing room. He was a great man. I probably spent two or three years playing with him as a batting coach. I really looked up to him.”
Pope revealed that Thorpe played an influential role in his career and shared pearls of wisdom during his time as a batsman and assistant coach for the England men’s team.
“I remember him telling me one thing: ‘Never let the runs you score define you as a person.’ When you’re young, you’re kind of in a rut, and that was exactly what I needed to hear. To me, it shows that he was a very people person. He was well-liked in the locker room. It’s a very sad loss for everyone – the country, his family and the boys as well. We miss him and we’ll be honoring him this week.”
England squad:
Daniel Lawrence, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope (c), Joe RootHarry Brook, Jamie Smith (week), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, Jordan Cox, Olly Stone
Sri Lanka squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis (week), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh ChandimalDhananjaya de Silvac(c), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kasun Rajitha, Pathum Nissanka, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake, Nisala Tharaka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Ramesh Mendis
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