Stumped

Sri Lanka end 27 year wait for a ODI series victory over India

Sri Lanka are celebrating after victory over India in the third One Day International by 110 runs to clinch the One Day series 2-0.

It's the first time since 1997 that Sri Lanka have beaten India in a One Day series. Alison Mitchell, Charu Sharma and Jim Maxwell reflect on the series and discuss Gautam Gambhir's tenure as India's Head Coach beginning in defeat.

The Hundred is ongoing in England with the business end of the tournament fast approaching. Australian cricketer Spencer Johnson who is part of the Oval Invincibles team, joins us on the programme.

We also pay tribute to former England cricketer Graham Thorpe, who died aged 55 years old this week.

Image: Sri Lanka's players pose with the series trophy after winning the third and final one-day international (ODI) cricket match between Sri Lanka and India at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on August 7, 2024. Spinner Dunith Wellalage took 5-27 as Sri Lanka clinched a first ODI series victory over India in 27 years with a 110-run thrashing of the tourists in the third match on August 7. (Credit: AFP via Getty Images)

Duration:: 35m
Broadcast on:: 08 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to Stumped, a podcast that talks about cricket. Yep, that's about it. Cricket! How to play it, watch it, and love it, whether you're in England, India, Australia, and everywhere in between. Share it, review it, and rate it please. Podcasts from the BBC World Service are supported by advertising. This podcast is brought to you by eHarmony. The dating app to find someone you can be yourself with. Why doesn't eHarmony allow copy and paste in first messages? Because you are unique, and your conversations should reflect that. eHarmony wants you to find someone who will get you. How are you going to know who gets you? If people send you the same generic conversation starters, they message everyone else. Conversations that actually help you get to know each other. Imagine that. Get who gets you on eHarmony. Sign up today. Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my hundredth mint commercial. 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[MUSIC PLAYING] [CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] From the BBC World Service, in association with ABC and Akashvani, this is Stumped. Hello, and welcome to Stumped, your intercontinental hit of news features and debate from the quirky world of cricket. I'm Arson Ritchel in London with slightly achy legs at the moment, because at the weekend, I hiked the Seven Sisters, which is beautiful rolling cliff tops on the south coast of England, but I'll tell you what, there are more than seven sisters. I reckon I counted at least nine bigger hills that we climbed up, but it was, yeah, stunning weather to be out enjoying the countryside. I'm glad to hear you staying in Nick there, Ali. It's Jim Mashwell for the ABC in Sydney, and most of Australia is bouncing, jiving, whatever. It's gold, gold, gold for Australia, gold. We've never seen so many gold medals at an Olympic, so really little else matters in the sporting world, other than that. Good for you both, no gold yet for India, the Olympics, so there's been a lot of disappointment, not just there, but in the series versus Sri Lanka as well. Hello, I'm Shahru Sharma for Akashwani. In this rather picturesque Eastern Seaboard Union territory of Pondicherry, just below Chennai, the Pondicherry Premier League is on. I'm involved, and it's good that there's more going on in India, but whatever's going on in Sri Lanka is certainly very disappointing. Oh, well, we're going to talk about that more in a moment. Jim, I should have added that while we're walking, of course, having BBC radio in our ears, because the live radio of the Olympics is absolutely stunning. You don't miss a thing bouncing between all the live action that's going on. I really feel it's such a great way to consume an event like the Olympics, but right, later on in this show today, we're going to be talking about England's 100 Ball Summer Cricket Competition, named, of course, the 100 with the business end of the tournament, fast approaching. But we are going to start in Colombia, where Sri Lanka is celebrating after their first men's one day series victory over India since 1997. They won the third and final match of the series by a whopping 110 runs to take the series, two nil. So that's two wins, plus a remarkable tie in the opening game. It's meant that Gautam Ghande's tenure as India's head coach has begun with, well, many India fans, somewhat baffled by the team's performance. First Sri Lanka, Charu, a 27-year wait for a series, win is a long time, and that third ODI was quite a thumping. Well, it was, I mean, there was a suggestion that India had done well enough with the ball to get Sri Lanka out reasonably, well, relatively cheap and one day internationals. People expect as many as 300. I wrote these days, but in the mid-to 50s or so, you'd expect India to get there, wouldn't you? But they fail quite miserably. And there's a fair amount of chatter in India, right? Now people are a little confused. We've got a new coach. We've got lots of very good players, you know, international stars, and yet going down to Sri Lanka next door was entirely unexpected and going down big was even more unexpected. So what's going on down there? And of course, one also feels forgotten compared because he's going to very soon realize as a player, it's one thing when you have your destiny in control, but as a coach, you can't really control what's going on inside, and he couldn't have had a worse beginning. Luckily for him, of course, there's much more cricket in India later on, but yeah, it's a horror stock for the new coach. Yeah, Jim Sri Lanka's spinners, 27 wickets between them. Fantastic. Playing at home, reports on cricket info, Rohit Sharma's had a crack at his batsman. He said that they didn't master the sweep shot, whether it'd be conventional, reverse, whatever. So that's surprising because you would think the batsman who were well versed in playing the turning ball at home, particularly in the IPL, if not for India, would be doing better than that. But Sharma got some runs himself, called it didn't get too many. Well done, Sri Lanka, I suppose you have to say, given their mediocre performances in white ball cricket in recent times. So that's a boost for the game, actually, to see a result like that, but it might steal India into a better cricket as they move on, but that was certainly below their best at performance. Yeah, I think that's what makes it so joyful for Sri Lanka, is it? Do you just feel they've had precious little to smile about of late? And last week we were reflecting on the Sri Lanka women's team, winning the Asia Cup as well, so things are bright at this moment in time. Cherry, there was impressive batting from Sri Lanka, but on their spinners, just a word on Jeffrey Vanda say the leg spinner, because he really stood out on the ball in the second match, didn't he took a six foot on their way to victory. And it's quite a good story in many respects, because he's a 34 year old who debuted back in 2015, but it's only played 24 ODI's now. One of two things have gone on in the background, but he only had one ODI appearance between 2017 and 2022. And can you sort of shed a bit more light on his story? Well, and through it all, I believe he's only played one test mat so far, so obviously a huge underperformance for somebody who was touted as a bit of a star, say, eight, nine years ago. Well, there's several aspects, one of course, perhaps the stardom of one Hindu hasaranga that lead leggy. Now, as long as one Hindu was doing well, I suppose Jeffrey had very little to say or do, wasn't getting selected often enough, or if he was, he wasn't playing 11. That must have been a touch frustrating. And then of course, there was a couple of warnings should be said. He was even suspended for a year. He was quite upset about it and of course, confessed that, yeah, maybe he didn't take a few good decisions along the way. I think this incident was in St. Lucia a couple of years ago, and that suspension also hurt his overall chances of paying for Sri Lanka. By the way, very quickly, I don't think I've given Sri Lanka enough credit. I just talked about the Indian standpoint, Sri Lanka well played. And I'm so glad that, as you mentioned, the women as well as the men have beaten India. Back to when they say, I think it was unplayable on that pitch that day. A lot of rash shots, one could say, injudicious, but nothing explains the fact that the Indians got a fabulous taste of their own medicine with the spinners. And of course, he landed everything fabulously. As a risk-pinner, as we all know, consistency is always going to be a bit of a problem. On that one day, it was magic because he landed just about everything at the right spot, got just enough spin. And the Indians were bamboozled. And Jim, you mentioned Rohit Sharma, he can well afford to say whatever because he scored virtually in all the three matches so far. But the Indians had never, to my memory, been good sweepers of the ball. They liked to dance around a bit, go on the front foot, even come deep into the crease play of the back foot. But sweeping has not been, you know, a major skill set of the Indian cricket team. So if they have to start doing that, now it's a shade late. But maybe that's one point that they can now start off remarkable. After the first tie, many thought that India are going to bounce back now, right? One bad match. But they got beaten worse and worse than the matches to follow. Yeah, Jeffrey, I'm glad for him because he's now with, one end who continues to be injured. Then Jeffrey is going to have a big say in Sri Lankan cricket as a leggy in the next world, at least a year. Yeah, he's got a chance in the test series now against England, hasn't he? Let's talk about that tie, because it was only the 44th time in history that a one day international had been tied. And it was dramatic as ties are. Asalanca, the Sri Lanka captain dismissed Shivam Dubey and asked him to sing in successive balls to finish the game and therefore stop India from winning. Even more remarkable was that they just had a tie in the T20 just a short while before that. In that match, though, a winner was decided by a super over. However, this didn't happen for the ODI, which caused something of a storm because everyone then rushes to read the playing conditions and ICC playing conditions for one day internationals say that a tie has to be followed by a super over. Although there is a caveat that says, should it not be possible to play or complete the super over, the match shall be tied? Jim, what did you make from all of this? Because from all the reports I've read, it doesn't seem that there was rain on the horizon because often, of course, if the weather is bad, if you can't complete a super over, you don't do it. But I don't think any more lights has been shed since then on why the umpires didn't go ahead with a super over. But I just want to generally with the concept, do you like the idea of a tie being decided or do you prefer a tie to be a tie? I like a tie as a tie. In one day, cricket, T20 is okay. In days gone by before T20 became what it is, they used to have some camp-based systems, didn't they, in one day internationals? Oh, boundary, camp-backs, which of course, well, that was the thing in the super over the 2019 World Cup, but a wicket's lost could have been a thing in some kind of conditions. No, wicket's lost before we got these other refinements into the game. No, I'd rather the result stand as the tie, but I'm out of fashion. I don't mind a tie. But it's all about it's all about looking after the fans, isn't it, at the ground and on television. So I suppose that's what's going to come of this. It is dramatic, chair, isn't it, to have a one-over shootout? Well, I know from the production angle, Alison, it takes a long time. So all of a sudden, you can suddenly allow for another 15 minutes or so on. There's a little bit of chaos and nobody really knows what's going on because the player who's going to back for the team or not, you know, so many things to be decided. So I don't... That adds to it. That's the old-fashioned. It possibly does. I don't think I'm particularly old-fashioned. I like evolution. I understand change. But I've got to say that in a bilateral series, just to add to what Jin said, in a bilateral series, I'm very happy with ties. I think it's very dramatic. But when it comes to multi-team tournaments, the ICU World Cups and so on and so forth, you know, there's a point system involved and it just confuses everyone to have a tie. So I understand why you want to break that tie with a super over and whatever else is to follow in case that's a tie as well, and not boundaries scored out of the teams. But so in bilateral series, I'm very happy with the tie. I think it's a wonderful, dramatic way to finish, and in many other sports, there's a tie as well, and it's perfectly acceptable. You don't really have to force the pace thereafter. Yeah, I think sometimes a T20 being decided by a super over is kind of akin to the short-sharp nature of T20, where you feel that anyone can be anyone on their day. It does somehow feel that to decide, you know, 100 overs of cricket that has been played out or as near as to then come down to 12 balls, six on each side, seems like possibly not the sort of fairest way of deciding an outcome. But I mean, at least with that, the boundary count back on the super over, that playing condition did change, didn't it, on the back of the World Cup, 50 of World Cup final in 2019. So now you would just keep on going, super over after super over after super over. And yeah, I think in a World Cup situation where you do need to determine a winner, I think, even in a final like that, is it a bit of a come down for both teams to lift a trophy? People want to have just one outright winner. But yeah, I think maybe on with you in the in bilateral series, let's, let's allow a tie to be a tie and add that and enjoy the drama that that brings as well. Cherry, then what about Gauton Gambia then? Because this was his first series as coach, well received as coach, but the fact it's, it hasn't been a success. Well, it was always going to be a 50-50 appointment, because all of a sudden, where did he come in from? You know, I don't think he was touted as India's head coach for quite a while. It's just that when David was easing out, all of a sudden his name started cropping up. Perhaps because of KKR's success, but even there it was Chandu Pandit, really, was the coach and Gauton was only the mentor. And mentors have, as far as I can gather, a very kind of subdued role, because you don't want to interfere with the main coach. So he has decided to accept the mentor. It's a crown of thorns as we've known. The first series is going really badly in that two against Sri Lanka. It couldn't have been worse. What could have been worse is India getting beaten in India by Sri Lanka. That would be terrible. There's a, or a certain section of people who would like to suggest that because he's, he's got a sort of, I'm trying to put it mildly, but he can be sharp. And unfortunately, it's much more about management than really teaching people how to hold a bat or whatever else. So there is a school of thought that says he might get into a bit of a scrap with some senior player or the other, and he already has had a few verbal with some of the senior players. So this is an appointment that could turn out pretty difficult for India in the coming months. Well, luckily for them, as I was saying earlier, they play in India in the next few months, and that's just so much easier on all the players, the batsmen, particularly in the spinners. So they could do a lot of winning in the next few months, and, you know, he'd come back into a bit of praise. But right now he started as badly as he could have given the fact that he has some, you know, there's often issues with some of the senior players. This could be a pretty rocky situation for India, but hopefully they can all talk it out and make sure that he just steps back a bit and accepts the fact that they had won that series to a very good team in their own backyard. I mean, he seems to already have, you know, sway an authority over some of those senior players, because of course, Virak Curly and Rohit Sharma both played when it was, it was thought that having won the T20 World Cup and then retired from that format, they were going to extend their break from cricket a little bit. But supposedly, Gambier insisted that they cut those breaks short, Jim, and get straight back to it. Is that sort of a good sign that, you know, he had both those two senior players playing for him? Oh, I think it's a new coach. He wanted to have the best he could around him, and just see how would it all go? I mean, the harmony between the coach and the players is vital. He's got to be calm, and I think he's, as Charo has suggested, he's going to be tested, particularly given they're coming to Australia. And you want to get off to the right start here, otherwise you're going to be in a lot of bother, I would think. So it'll be fascinating to watch how emotionally he handles the role, but I'm not surprised that he wanted those blokes to play. They are committed to Indian cricket, and on contract and all of that, so they should be playing if they fit. Yep, well, indeed they did, and they will have a big role to play now for India, weren't they, to pick themselves up from that? And so for Charo Atalanga, his first ODI series as Sri Lanka captain, so a real feather in his cap to have got his tenure off to a winning start as well. This is Stumped from the BBC World Service. I love it. This podcast is brought to you by E-Harmony, the dating app to find someone you can be yourself with. Why doesn't E-Harmony allow copy and paste in first messages? Because you are unique, and your conversations should reflect that. E-Harmony wants you to find someone who will get you. How are you going to know who gets you? If people send you the same generic conversation starters, they message everyone else. Conversations that actually help you get to know each other. Imagine that. Get who gets you on E-Harmony. Sign up today. This season, Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders, and pencils. And they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project to do tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So, first, call your parents to say "I'm sorry" and then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee with your first three orders while supplies last, minimum $10 in order, additional terms apply. If you've missed anything from Stumpf, then why not download and subscribe to the podcast via your usual podcast provider. And check us out on YouTube as well, head to the BBC World Service YouTube channel. On last week's show, we spoke to cricket journalist Estelle Vartudaven, who was in Dambula as Sri Lanka's women when their first ever Asia Cup title. So, will that change the landscape for women's sport in the country? It does feel like it will because growing up in the 90s, I didn't see any women's cricket on the TV. Obviously, the idea of a women's cricket team wasn't really something in our reality, right? And I think over the last couple of years with games being televised, with resources being more accessible, it has certainly become a more sought after almost as a career for a lot of girls. And I think that's going to trickle down to the young women and surely there are lots of kids out there thinking they want to do something like that for Sri Lanka as well. In the BBC World Service, this is stumped on ABC and I've been here. Now, England's blockbuster summer cricket tournament, the 100, is closing in on the business end. It's in its fourth year now, the 100 Ball competition features eight men's and women's teams based around seven cities in England and Wales. 2023 saw two new champions with Southern brave women and Overland Vincibles men lifting massively heavy trophies at finals day at Lord's. Let's bring in Australia fastball of Spencer Johnson, who is part of Overland Vincibles team. Spencer, welcome back to Stumped. We'd love chatting to you last year. You didn't actually play in the final then, but you'd had a record breaking debut in the 100, honey, three wickets, conceding just one run in 20 balls when we had you on the show. Just talk us through last year's competition and what you learned from that experience of being in the 100. Yes, hello. Thanks for having me on. That night was still unbelievable, to be honest. 19 dots, three for one. It still doesn't quite feel real, but I'm back here now with the reigning champions. I would have loved to be a part of that final, but I'm back here now and hopefully we can do it again this year. Yeah, it was against Manchester Originals, wasn't it? The likes of Josh Butler and Phil Saltrin, the team that night. And it really catapulted you, and you'd obviously played big bash in Australia, but catapulted you into the consciousness of so many people. The 100 is now in its fourth year, but you're now an IPL player as well, which followed on for this year. I'll let Cherry talk to you about that specifically, but what's your take on the quality of the 100 this year? Because you know, some team totals have been low. There's talk about the balls, which you might love as a baller. But I wonder what will keep somebody like you coming back to the 100? We know that ECB are moving to sell stakes in tournament, bringing investors. What's the quality this year? Does the tournament need a lot of money to keep the best players coming back? Yeah, I guess for me, it's a tournament that I probably hold close to my heart. It's from that night. I think, as you said, things have kind of pulled it into, yeah, it's been ridiculous. So, for me, I'm always wanting to come back here and play in this tournament. For me, I actually find it quite tough. The standard here is good. You've got the best players in the world coming here, and some really, really good local guys. So, I love it. I know Zamps loves it as well. Adam Zampar, he's very fond of playing here. And I think we are quite lucky being in London and playing at the Oval. Jim Maxwell and Sydney Spencer are nice to be talking to you and earlier in the year, because you got the chance for the Australian T20 side against the West Indies. Took a couple of wickets. What was your takeaway from that experience? Hey, Jim. Yeah, I mean, to play for Australia is what every kid wants. And to do it at home, I was lucky enough to play one in Adelaide. And I reckon I had probably 30 or 40 tickets there for family and friends. So, that was a special moment. Probably thinking back to it now. It's probably all got to do with what I've done in this tournament and probably some tournaments around the world. So, what have you got your thoughts set on in terms of playing for Australia? Do you think it's more imminent in the next six months or so? I'd like to think so. The way I'm going, I left Australia in the 15th of March to go to India, and then I pretty much came straight here after that. So, I've been away. I've been playing on a cricket. And I think that's only going to help me. I've missed a lot in the first half of my career. So, I'm trying to catch that up. And then, hopefully, that's only going to help me get better. Thanks for joining us. It's Jaru Sharma from India. And for those who may not remember, you did join us earlier back in 2022. You know, mind everybody, that you had no real professional contract at that point of time, and you were, in fact, working as a landscape gardener. Now, how much has the IPL, particularly, no mean sort of amount picked up with the Gujarat titles? How much has that changed your life? Completely, to be honest. Something that you probably always dreamed of, and you never thought it would happen to you. I was watching it by myself, and watching the panel go up, it was surreal. Timing was right. A little bit of luck, and, yeah, it's unbelievable. It's definitely changed my life, and some of my family's life as well. Well, everything thoroughly deserved, because you're burning so well. But I've got to ask you, now, of course, it presents different challenges, because you had got short your time lasting the 100 due to the international duty of Australia. So there's all sorts of club versus country potential clashes coming up. How are you going to handle all of that? Have you worked on it, thought about it? As I said before, I've missed a lot of my early days in my career, so there's a fine line to saying yes to every tournament and keeping yourself fresh, but there's also, for me, I feel like I'm trying to get more experience and play more, and I don't feel like I'm where I want to get to yet. I feel like I'm the finished product, and I want to keep learning and growing as a player. So I feel lucky. I've got some really good people at home that I speak to and way up the pros and cons, and I guess it's just working out what works and what doesn't work. How are you evolving your bowling Spencer over the last year or even what sort of things do you work on? I think for me, I learn a lot in India. It's pretty brutal over there. As you see, the wickets and the runs, it was crazy how many runs we're getting scored. So what worked in Australia for me was, I guess, trying to bowl 140, 145 top of the stumps with big square boundaries, but I felt like if you were that 5% off in India, whether it was nerves, I've never felt nerves like that in my life at 130,000 and haven't had that. Amazing. Yeah, it was crazy, but if you were slightly off Rohit Sharma, Barack Kohli, they're going to eat you alive. So I think for me, it's making sure I'm 100% in the contest, and then I'm just sort of developing a few skills along the way that you almost pick up subconsciously because you see how they're playing and if they're good off the back foot and they want to pick you up, you're a little bit fuller and something that you learn as you go and I'm loving the challenge. And who does Anki as you're moving around the world going from, you mentioned you left home in March, IPL, you've come to the 100 off the back of the Major League cricket as well. You've also got your coach here at Overland Vincibles now to lean on in the coaching setup here. How do you set up your own support structure? The beauty of playing for so many different teams, you pick up relationships, whether it's players or coaches, and then I've got a brother that I trust at home. I've got Trent Kelly, who used to be my boss and coach, Mark Harity, my club coach, there's lots of guys that I sort of bounce off and just say, "What does this look like? What are you thinking here?" I think the way the game's going, potentially looking into getting a personal coach or a personal mentor that comes around for a couple of weeks of the year or a month of the year and sort of helps you decide and you can pick their brain. I think that's the way the game's going for me, potentially. Yeah, I think we've certainly talked to players about that before on Stumped. I'd love to get your thoughts, Spencer, on Chariot touched on it. The players coming in and out of franchise tournaments, either because of international commitments or sometimes simply because there's another tournament starting, and notably your home tournament, the Big Bash, now asks their overseas players to commit to the whole event barring international commitments. The compensation for that is, of course, they're offering two or three year deals in return for that commitment. I wonder what you think of that and if you think other leagues should follow suit or do you mind the fact that even with oval invincibles, who knows whether you're going to lose a player towards the end if you make the finals? How does that sit with you as a player? Obviously, you would love your best players there for the whole tournament. Hopefully, the way it's looking, if the 100 does get so, it looks like things will line up because there might be some IPL teams interested, in terms of the Big Bash locking in some guys, and I think that will help. Hopefully, the scheduling as well will help. It can be frustrating. I know for me, I had to leave last year and miss 100 finals. That was for international commitment, wasn't it, with Australia? Is that right? Yes, which is obviously amazing, but you play 90% of the tournament and you've got to leave it. It just doesn't really feel right, to be honest. I'd love for the scheduling to be a little bit more friendly for everyone. That is the million dollar question, isn't it, and the big challenge for all of it, getting all of this right? Final thought, Jim touched on this. You won the Big Bash at the start of the year, IPL, MLC. Do you have red ball ambitions as well? Because, of course, the Australian test bowlers can't go on forever. In terms of being a left arm, and there's obviously Mitch Stark and Mitchell Johnson, your namesake, another left arm. I had a lot of success in a test chat, so how about you? That's absolutely number one for me. I'm always putting my hand up for Red Bull Cricket. I put my hand up for Sarri, just after the blast here, before I went to America, and unfortunately didn't get an NOC, but I'm always pushing and wanting to play because it's something that I haven't really played a lot of. I feel like right now, the position I'm in, I'm playing lots of white ball, but I think that's only going to help me with my Red Bull Cricket and vice versa, to be honest. I'm not really going to give up playing Red Bull where I think that helps me with playing white balls. So, whatever's in front of me, I want to play and play as much as I can. Hopefully, one day down the track, there's a bag of green there. It's been great to catch up with you again. Love speaking to you, as always. Good luck with what is in front of you right now, which is getting over invincibles to finals day, once again, and defend that trophy. It's looking to go well so far, you're up there pushing at the top of the table. Spence of good luck for the rest of the tournament. Thank you, thank you very much. Spencer Johnson, Australia, fast bowl, a part of the Oval Invincibles men's team. From the BBC World Service, this is Stumped on ABC and Puck Hushmani. Well, there was some incredibly sad news in the world of cricket this week. The death of former England and Saribatta Graham Thorpe at the age of just 55. Now, Thorpe was a left-hander who played 100 tests for England between 1993 and 2005, as well as 82 one-day internationals. Back in 1997, he was named Wisdom Cricketer of the Year, and Thorpe in recent times was also part of the England coaching staff that guided the men's team to the 2019 World Cup on home soil. But, gosh, it was so much more than that as well. I mean, for cricket fans my age, we were teenagers watching him in the 90s and then 20-somethings in the 2000s. And he was this sort of quietly cool dude with that tolling headband that was revealed whenever he took his helmet off, either after he'd made 100 or he was walking off the field. And it was on show in such an iconic moment, wasn't it, when you remember that Karachi test match, when he and Naseh saying walked off the field together in darkness, having got the team home a famous test win in a fourth innings run chase. And on a personal level, I've been on tours with him when he was in his poster in the coaching staff, and he was great mates with Alex Stewart, the former England bat and former Sorryhead coach as well. And when Stewie was covering a lot of England test cricket with us on the BBC with Radio 5 Live, I thought he would often come up to our commentary box and just sit and pass the time a day away, chacking away. He always came across as such a, well, he was a very personable man and a really gentle soul in those situations. Jim, I remember, I mean, how do you remember Graham thought, because there are so many standout moments in his cricketing career. A very gritty, tough player, highly respected. And Shane Moore didn't respect a lot of batsmen, but he respected Graham Thorpe. Alas, for Graham, he had to play against Australia in that era where England were finding it a bit difficult to score some runs, but nonetheless, he did on a number of occasions. And it's interesting, I think, back of all the English players that I've watched over the years, and not many left-handers stand out. There's Thorpe, there's Gower, and for me, John Erdrich, who was the gutsiest player of all in a very productive career. I mean, the fact that Thorpe averaged 45 in test cricket, as he did in first-class cricket, played 100 tests. I mean, it's a hell of a record, a wonderful player. And he deserved to be playing in more teams that won ashes test matches. The England teams of the 90s was not a very happy place to be, he wasn't in terms of wins. His strike rate against the spin or the pace, he was very consistent. And it's a shame that he didn't actually play in that 2005 series. He would have been an asset to England, not that they needed it in the end, but he was a very accomplished player. Yeah, some bloke called Kevin Peterson came in, didn't he, 2005? Yeah, he was here in Sydney, one summer. I was about to say, coached in New South Wales, didn't he, for a while? Yeah, when Steve Smith was making his way up as a young player back in 2004, somewhere around that, and yeah, I think he was very, very helpful in guiding him along as he was with so many others. So, it's a very sad story to what has been an outstanding career. Yeah, it's been a huge amount of outpouring here in the UK, but across the cricketing world. And Charu, I mentioned Karachi in the dark, that famous win in the year 2000. Is there any particular memories you have of Graham Thorpe? Well, of course, there was also that very, very celebrated 100 he made in Sri Lanka. How do I remember him? Very gritty, I think you've used the term Jim. Not much of a backlift, but equally adept against spin, pace. Oh, you mentioned Sri Lanka, Charu. There's a Graham Thorpe road, isn't there, on a sort of celebratory note? Is it called Magona, the area, named after him? Well, it's after the 2004 tsunami, sorry organised a charity match to help rebuild the village, which is a really quite beautiful touch and beautiful legacy, really, that he has a road named after him. Well, that's quite brilliant. So, obviously, there were many sides to Graham Thorpe, and one of them was certainly very supportive of communities and all the work that he put in there. And that's the lead. I just fabulous have a road named after him. It's a very small tribute, but it's an important tribute. In all of our thoughts, certainly, with his family and closest friends, and Surrey County Cricket Club, in particular, as well as all his England colleagues. So, from us at Stumped, we pay tribute and salute Graham Thorpe, Fabulous, England Batter, fearless against pace and fabulous against spin. Well, that is it for this week's Stumped. I'll say thank you too, Jim Maxwell and Charu Sharma. Make sure you join us again next time. Until then, bye for now. Stumped is a BBC Sport production for the BBC World Service, in association with ABC and Akash Vani. It was known to be a killer, even if you see him in the town, everybody will say, "Hey, is the killer?" This is the story of a man who killed so many people. He lost count. But despite his shocking death toll, he only served 12 years in jail. It's astounding that anybody could get away with it. And the families of his victims want justice. That justice system ultimately ignored all of those bodies and all of the families. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, Season 3, the apartheid killer. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]