England to pay tribute to Thorpe ahead of 1st Test against Sri Lanka

Manchester, Aug 21: England players will pay tribute to late batter Graham Thorpe before the start of the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Manchester on Wednesday.

The teams will be lining up for a moment of applause before their national anthems at the Old Trafford Stadium, with a tribute video being played on the big screen. Broadcaster Sky Sports will also be paying tribute to the batter in their coverage.

Thorpe committed suicide at the age of 55 on August 4, after years of battle with what his wife Amanda described as "major depression and anxiety". Thorpe made his international debut in 1993 and was the mainstay of the English batting throughout the late 90s and early 2000s.

The southpaw played 100 Tests and scored 6744 runs at an average of 44.66, with 16 hundreds and 39 fifties to his name. His highest score was 200*. In ODIs, the gritty batter scored 2380 runs at an average of 37.18 with 21 fifties.