Thorpe's final opportunity

By Oliver Brett

As somebody who has led the selectors a merry dance over the last few years, Graham Thorpe knew he may have shot his bolt with the England hierarchy.

Little more than a month ago, while he was scoring runs on all sorts of pitches for Surrey, he admitted his chance may have come and gone.

Trudging off after his last Test innings 13 months ago England squad: Thorpe in

"If I don't play for England and I can just play my best for Surrey, then I'll be happy with that," he said in a newspaper interview.

"I'll take whatever comes along."

In a telling aside, he also admitted: "I was a confused bloke last September."

He was referring to his decision to make himself available for the Ashes tour, only to pull out at late notice.

This had come after he had retired from one-day internationals in July, and after he had pulled out of the last three summer Tests against India.

But if Thorpe was confused, anyone connected with English cricket - players, selectors, fans, pundits - was utterly baffled.

The turmoil going on in Thorpe's mind, and his inability to make important life decisions, was so far removed from the determined, fluid way in which he had racked up 11 Test centuries at an average of 41.80.

Moments after the squad for The Oval was announced, Thorpe did not seem a confused bloke any more, thank goodness.

"I have been in the best frame of mind I have been in for years," he said.

HAVE YOUR SAY Thorpe can make a difference, but where was he at the start of the series? From Harry Hammer Join the debate

Now 34, if Thorpe harbours any hopes of adding significantly to his 77 Test caps it is probably last-chance saloon time.

If, for example, he pulls out of the Bangladesh tour after reaching some sort of personal crisis in the arrivals hall at Chittagong airport, it will be a case of bye-bye Thorpey.

But if he is now hungry for his place, aware that the clock is ticking and retains his good form as a player, the final chapter of Thorpe's playing career in theory holds out plenty of promise.

South Africa will not entirely relish the prospect of facing Thorpe at The Oval. But then again all they have to do is draw the match to win the series.

England's task of taking 20 South African wickets is something their bowlers, not Thorpe, have to achieve.

Clearly, the man should have been given his chance much earlier in this series.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, may be more worried.

It was Thorpe's batting on the last tour there that largely won the series, and England play three Tests there in December.