Thorpe pledges his future to England

Graham Thorpe has improved his prospects of an England recall, by pledging to tour Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies this winter.

Thorpe has not played for England since 2002, when he took a break from all forms of cricket due to personal problems. He was nonetheless named in England's squad to tour Australia, but later admitted that he was not in the right frame of mind to take on such an arduous campaign.

Now, however, he claims to have resolved his issues, and is ready to resume his international career. "I've spoken to the selectors because it was important for me to know where I stand and I didn't want to speak out of turn," Thorpe told the Times newspaper. "But I can only do what everyone else does in county cricket and try to put my name in the hat.

"They obviously wanted to know certain things, such as whether I would go on tour, and I have said 'Yes, I would'. Of course, it would be natural for people to say 'Yes, but what about last September when you said you would go to Australia and then wouldn't go?', but my life now is a totally different scenario. I was a confused bloke last September."

But Thorpe recognises that he may have burnt his bridges with the England management, who have adopted a youth policy since the end of the World Cup. "I don't think I've got anything to lose," said Thorpe. "I've got four, maybe five, years of playing cricket left and if I play for England in that period, fantastic. If I don't play for England and I can just play my best for Surrey, then I'll also be happy with that. I'll take whatever comes along.