Graham Thorpe sacked but Joe Root backed to remain England captain

Graham Thorpe is the third member of the England management to be sacked, but Joe Root is set to remain as Test captain

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

The video will auto-play soon8Cancel

Play now

Root accepts England need wholesale changes after Ashes defeat

Assistant coach Graham Thorpe has become the third senior member of the England team management to be sacked in a bruising week for the side.

Thorpe has paid the price for serial batting failures in the Test side in which the team made almost eight times as many ducks as they did centuries in 2021.

His role in videoing a drinking session in the early hours of the morning following the Ashes series did not help his case with a spotlight on the drinking culture within the management, but it is cricketing performance on which he has rightly been judged.

Joe Root scored six of the seven hundreds scored last year and he will continue as England captain in the West Indies and most likely beyond, with the backing and support of ECB top brass Tom Harrison and Sir Andrew Strauss who is interim Managing Director of Men’s cricket.

Strauss will appoint an interim coach for the West Indies tour, admitting that he will be speaking to candidates from within the current structure such as Paul Collingwood as well as those outside such as Alec Stewart on their availability for the job.

That coach needs to be appointed swiftly with Strauss and the new coach forming part of a panel who will pick the squad for the three Test tour of the Caribbean in the next week ahead of the tour departure on February 24th.

Strauss said: “It has been a particularly bruising week for English cricket and no-one likes to see the game making the headlines it has.

“I have to announce this morning that Graham Thorpe is also going to be moving on from his role.

“There’s a lot of work to do, primarily ahead of the West Indies tour. Joe Root will be captain for that series and we will look to appoint an interim coach with soundings being taken on that at the moment from inside and outside the organisation.

“The only way we can look at it is to get through the West Indies tour which is about five weeks on duty and there is some time after that to take a step back and think strategically about the needs of the England cricket team.

“Having spoken to Joe it is absolutely clear the extent of his commitment to taking this side forward – he has incredible motivation and energy to do that.

“He is bruised and disappointed by what went on the Ashes but he has the respect of the players they all play for him and obviously he sets a magnificent example both on and off the field.

“I will give him my full support and make sure he has the right structure around him to take pressure off him and make sure he can do his job properly.”

Strauss also confirmed he would look at the structure around the setup with split coaches likely, and a national selector to reinstated.

The new permanent managing director will also be the person who appoints the full time coaching appointments rather than Strauss.

The former skipper will not stay on in any full time capacity with his focus still on his young sons who are continuing to cope as best they can without their late mother Ruth.

Strauss added: “The game’s changed. I think we need to look at it with a fresh set of eyes. “And that’s my role right now is to try and give some sort of strategic direction around the structure of that England cricket department and then make sure that we have the right people in place to take that forward.

“Everyone knows my own personal situation and that that has prevented me up till now from taking a high profile role and nothing’s really changed at this point.

“My boys are still growing up and they need their dad around. So I’m always keen to help English cricket going forward and this role is manageable. If there are further roles in the future that are manageable I can look at that.”

Strauss also indicated that Justin Langer would be in the conversation as a permanent coach, when he added: “I know him well.

“On the surface, he’s done a very good job of things with the Australian cricket team. So I wouldn’t rule him out, but I’m sure there are plenty of others as well.”