by The wife of Graham Thorpe, Amanda, says that she does not agree with the view that the life of her own life is “selfish” after watching her husband’s long struggle with his mental health before his death last year.
Thorpe, a popular cricket player with England and Surrey, who retired in 2005, died in August 2024 after driving from a train. The 55 -year -old Thorpe had fought depression and anxiety for many years.
Letter in the 2025 edition of the Wisden AlmanackWhat has been published next week and was serialized in The Sunday timesMs. Thorpe wrote: “He tried many therapies and medication – he tried to beat. But in the end I have the feeling that something with the way Graham’s brain was wired – a chemical imbalance. He also felt immense how he was, but of course there should be no stigma to suffer.
“After playing it, I could see that it was a physical illness – and it is real. It felt like he was under the grip of an illness that he simply couldn’t come out of. I would like to raise awareness and improve understanding of this terrible illness.
“Some people say suicide is selfish. But I have so much sympathy for what he went through. He doesn’t deserve it. Nobody does it.”
Thorpe played 100 tests for England with an average of 45 with the bat and achieved 16 centuries. He later became a mentor of Joe Root, the national team’s largest run scorer. Thorpe worked during the pandemic for England, when the team played under extreme “Biosecure Bubble” S -Bemalen, of which his wife believes that he contributed to the decline of his mental health.
“Graham found it really difficult to work under Covid restrictions – and his mental health began to demand,” she wrote. “When England was beaten in Australia in the Covid ash from 2021-22 and he lost his coaching job, he was not in a big state of mind. Despite his appointment as a coach of Afghanistan, his fear and depression escalated to a point where he became very uncomfortable.”
