Thorpe hits special ton

14 April 2012

Graham Thorpe will win his 100th Test cap on Friday, when England play Bangladesh at Durham's Riverside Ground, but the debate over whether the retirement-bound veteran should tackle the Aussies in this summer's Ashes series is sure to continue.

Thorpe's entry to the Century Club seemed less than certain last week, when he stunned the England selectors by saying he had signed a contract to play and coach in New South Wales next winter.

The timing of the announcement, just before the npower First Test, clearly caught them unawares but Thorpe's subsequent confirmation that this season will be his last as an international cricketer hardly counts as a surprise.

Skipper Michael Vaughan and coach Duncan Fletcher both spoke in support of Thorpe following England's crushing victory at Lord's, and the 35-year-old is today safe and sound among an unchanged squad of 12 for Friday's second mismatch.

But that won't be the end of the discussion. When Thorpe returns to Surrey duty next week, young pretender Kevin Pietersen will move on to centre stage as a member of England's 14-man squad for what should be eight limited-overs internationals against Australia and Bangladesh.

If Pietersen flays the Aussies anything like he flogged South Africa a few months ago, then who could deny him an Ashes berth?

Either Thorpe or Ian Bell, who has lost his place in the one-day squad, would be under threat for the Test series.

Bell wasn't given much of a chance to shine during the one-dayers in South Africa and now finds himself surplus to requirements for the NatWest Twenty20 international against Australia and the NatWest Series triangular tournament meetings with Bangladesh and the Aussies.

Matthew Hoggard, another Test "specialist", also misses out, with the selectors deciding to look at the one-day potential of both Simon Jones and Jon Lewis.

Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles,

meanwhile, is in the limited overs squad and England are hoping he will be fit after missing both Tests against Bangladesh because of his hip problem.

TEST SQUAD: Trescothick, Strauss, Vaughan (capt), Bell, Thorpe, Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), Batty, Hoggard, S Jones, Harmison, Lewis. ODI SQUAD: Vaughan (capt), Kabir Ali, Collingwood, Flintoff, Giles, Gough, Harmison, G Jones (wkt), S Jones, Lewis, Pietersen, Solanki, Strauss, Trescothick.

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