England players who are a part of the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka will pay tribute to the late Graham Thorpe during the Old Trafford Test in Manchester on Wednesday, August 21.
Ollie Pope who will be leading England throughout the course of the series in the absence of Ben Stokes has revealed that the English players will wear black armbands during the first Test match in Manchester.
"We'll have our black armbands on throughout the course of the game and there'll be a tribute to him before," Pope was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday. "It's hurt a lot of people in that changing room. He was a great man. I probably had two or three years playing with him as a batting coach. I really admired him."
Pope revealed that Thorpe played an influential part in his career and shared pearls of wisdom during his time as the batting and assistant coach of the England men's team.
"I remember him saying one thing to me, which was: 'Never let the runs you're scoring define you as a person'. In a bit of a rut when you're young, that was exactly what I needed to hear. It shows, for me, what a people's person he was. He was loved in the changing room. He's such a sad loss to everyone: to the country, his family and the boys as well. He's missed, and we'll honour him this week," he added.
England Squad:
Daniel Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir, Jordan Cox, Olly Stone
Sri Lanka Squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silvac(c), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kasun Rajitha, Pathum Nissanka, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake, Nisala Tharaka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Ramesh Mendis
