da dobrowin： The England batsman Graham Thorpe has announced his retirement from one-day international cricket
Stephen Lamb13-Jul-2002The England batsman Graham Thorpe has announced his retirement from one-day international cricket. Thorpe, who missed the last four games of the NatWest Series, made the announcement shortly after England’s narrow defeat by India in today’s final.The Surrey left-hander, who turns 33 next month, says he wishes to concentrate on Test cricket, and spend more time with his young children.Thorpe was thought to be a leading candidate for England’s World Cup squad in South Africa next year. But he said this evening that the demands of combining Test and one-day international cricket were becoming too great for him.”In terms of keeping my body fit it’s becoming harder to do, playing both Tests and one-day internationals so I’ve decided to concentrate on just playing Test matches,” Thorpe said.”I also want to have more time to build a relationship with my two children,given my new personal circumstances at home.”Thorpe has played in 82 one-day internationals, scoring 2380 runs at an average of 37, with a strike rate of 71 runs per 100 balls. He returned home early from England’s tour to India last winter following the breakdown of his marriage.The England coach Duncan Fletcher said: “Graham’s been a fantastic one-day player for England and we’ll miss him but we look forward to him continuing to be a key player in our Test match side.””Graham got an injury half-way through this series, which allowed us to playMichael Vaughan,” Fletcher added.”Given that he let us know his decision to retire from the one-day team at that time, we decided it was a good opportunity to continue with Michael in the side and let him gain further valuable experience in one-day international cricket.”