The legendary England batsman Graham Thorpe, who died this summer, is set to be honoured through the naming of a new trophy for the winner of Test series between England and New Zealand.
The two nations first played Test cricket against one another in 1930 and their governing bodies are working on a plan to commemorate a great batsmen from each side – Thorpe and New Zealand’s Martin Crowe – who contributed heavily to the history of the fixture and died young.
The new trophy, which is understood to be being crafted in New Zealand now, will come into force for the upcoming series between the teams which starts on November 27. It is expected to be named the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy.
Former Black Caps captain Crowe was arguably New Zealand’s greatest batsman, averaging 45 in 77 Tests between 1982 and 1995. Having also become one of the game’s great thinkers as a writer and commentator, he died in 2016, aged 53, after a three-year battle with lymphoma.
The cricket world was left in deep shock when Thorpe died by suicide in August this year. He played 100 Tests for England, averaging 44.7, and later became a popular coach with the national team.
Thorpe saved some of his best innings for New Zealand, whom he averaged 53.2 against. He made a quarter of his 16 Test tons against the Black Caps, including his highest Test score, of 200 not out in Christchurch in 2002.
Crowe had a fine record in fixtures against England, averaging 40.6, including five centuries. The pair never played against each other but shared the respect of fans in opposing nations.
The two teams meet in a three-Test series in Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton. There is a friendly rivalry between the teams, whose last meeting was a one-run win for New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in 2023. England are coached by Brendon McCullum, a New Zealand legend, and captained by Ben Stokes, who was born in Christchurch to Kiwi parents (his mother, Deb, lives in the city).
The move is understood to have been driven by Cricket New Zealand. Earlier this year it was announced that future Test series between New Zealand and South Africa would be played for the Tangiwai Shield. This trophy poignantly commemorates events of 1953, when on Christmas Eve, a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed under an overnight train from Wellington to Auckland, killing 151 people on board. It remains New Zealand’s worst rail disaster.
Among the dead was Nerissa Love, the fiancee of Bob Blair, a 21-year-old bowler who was playing for New Zealand against South Africa in Johannesburg at the time. While Blair had initially stayed at the hotel as the match continued without him, he emerged to bat at the fall of New Zealand’s ninth wicket, stunning the crowd. Blair is still alive, and lives in Cheshire.
England already play for a number of trophies, with the Ashes being the most famous. Against India, they play for the Pataudi Trophy at home and the Anthony de Mello Trophy away. Against West Indies, they play for the Richards-Botham Trophy, which replaced the historic Wisden Trophy in 2022, and against South Africa they play for the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy.
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