Thorpe's thoughts
Last updated: 6th August 2007
Cricket AM
As one of only eight men to have played 100 Tests for England and the scorer of no fewer than 9000 international runs, Graham Thorpe is entitled to share an opinion on the current England team.
The former Surrey and England left-hander, now working as a coach in New South Wales, Australia, told Cricket AM that having sorted the Test team out, England's priority is to rectify a poor limited overs record.
He said: "England's Test side, from the year 2000, has been pretty consistent. The Ashes last winter wasn't great for us but generally our Test performances have been great, from when central contracts came in.
"And if you look at it now, England's one-day side is the big fix that we have got to find over the next few years because we have been poor.
"They have got to be consistent with some players and Peter Moores, the coach, has got to try to identify some players and stick with them. Also I think the amount of cricket we are playing internationally; maybe we will start to get five or six specialist one-day cricketers, especially with Twenty20 cricket coming through."
In England we are used to seeing an army of Aussie imports march into our game, with the county game flooded with Australian pros and even the England team as been coach by two Aussies, Troy Cooley and Rod Marsh, in recent years.
But not many Englishman go the other way, so how do the Australians take to batting tips from a Pom?
"Very well actually," said Thorpe. "That is the bottom line of it: I try to say it how it is and I could be working anywhere, but the break came to go and get coaching experience in Australia.
"The structure is very good to work in. You get a lot of time to work with the players and it means you can give more. The record as player helps you a bit but if I was doing an average job they would kick me back."
And Thorpe says that coaching the old enemy, having spent decades trying to beat them, doesn't bother him, as life, he admits, changes after you hang up your pads.
"When you are playing, you are just playing but when you have finished, it's a whole new world," he said.
"Your world changes quite a lot and from a coaching side, I don't know where I am going to end up. I am doing a job and I am gaining good experience and I am going to do the best I can out there. Who knows what will be in the future?"
