| "Murali
is the biggest threat" - Graham Thorpe
By Shamseer Jaleel
England's prolific scorer Graham Thorpe who plays for Surrey in
the County segment is hailed as one of the best batsmen that England
has produced. The small made left hander who is a rare gem scored
a century on his Test debut against Australia. This century was
made by an Englishmen after a long time and Thorpe after returning
to International arena after a lapse of few years scored yet another
brilliant century against the South Africans at home and justified
his selection to the side. He made his debut in 1990 and has played
with some top players in the calibre of Pakistani paceman Waqar
Younis, Alec Stewart and Holioake brothers in the county circuit.
He has represented
England in the shorter version of the game and played 87 One Day
Internationals. He has scored more than 2700 runs against Sri Lanka
at an average of over 37. He mainly concentrates on the longer version
of the game. Thorpe took time off his busy schedule to speak toThe
Sunday Times.
Q:
How do you rate England side and what is your side’s strengths?
A: We have a strong batting line up which goes up to the
tail where even bowlers are good in batting. Our former captain
Nasser Hussain who led the side in 2001, Mark Butcher, Matthew Hoggard
and Flintoff. We have bowlers in the calibre of Robert Croft and
Ashley Giles who are no push overs in batting where they have saved
the side on so ma ny occasions.
Q :
Did you have a good preparation for the Sri Lankan tour?
A: Yes. We had a good series in Bangladesh though the opposing
side was not very strong. The conditions here and Bangladesh are
similar. The series victory there gave us good confidence for the
Lankan tour.
Q:
With prevailing weather conditions how do you rate your chances
in the Test matches ? Which ground do you fancy more?
A: We cant do anything about the rainy season. Last time
when we came here we lost the first test in Galle where it helps
the local bowlers. But we came back strongly in the second and third
test matches in Kandy and Colombo. I think we have a good chance
in Kandy and Colombo test matches and the history speaks that Kandy
favours the visiting teams.
Q:
How do you rate the Sri Lankan side? Who is your biggest threat?
A: They have a very experienced side where most of them
are playing together for a long time. Almost every one are a threat
to us starting from Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Vaas and Murali.Without
any doubt it is Murali.
Q: Have
your batsmen worked out how to counter attack the world’s
best spinner?
A: That is up to each player to do their basics and work
out how to face him.
Q: With
this young side do you think most of these guys will play in the
next WorldCup in 2007?
A: Yes
I think so because with experience these youngsters will turn out
to be the future assets of the England side.
Q:
Left handers in the class of Brian Lara, Andy Flower, Surav Ganguly
and yourself have some success over Murali do you agree?
A:
Yes of course. Most of the left handers are better readers
of the off spin but that does not mean that one can relax.
Q:
Last time when your side toured here in 2001 the tour was full of
incidents such as verbal abuse. Any reason for that?
A: Yes,
last time both sides were equally good and one wanted to get on
top of the other this may have been the reason for the on field
incidents but after the game at the social it was sorted out. This
time Michael Vaughan has clearly told even before the series had
started that he wants an incident free series.
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