Thorpe to retire from first-class cricket

Graham Thorpe: has decided to call it quits at the end of the season © Getty Images Enlarge

Graham Thorpe, the former England middle-order batsman, has announced that he plans to retire from all forms of the game at the end of the season.

Thorpe, who recently decided to quit the international scene after being left out of the England squad for the current Ashes series, cited physical constraints as one of the reasons for this decision and said he didn't have "much left in the tank".

"I have decided the time has come for me to retire," Thorpe, 36, told the Mail on Sunday. "It is an emotional moment and there are many things I will miss, but I feel comfortable that this is the right decision."

Thorpe, who scored 6,744 runs during his 100-Test career, said he was available for Surrey until the end of the season and plans to take up a coaching position in Sydney next year but a long-standing back problem means he will play only in an emergency. "In purely physical terms, I don't want to go through another season of taking painkillers and having injections for my back," he said. "There is no point carrying on for the sake of it. I just haven't got that much left in the tank."