Sacked England assistant coach Graham Thorpe is named the new head coach of Afghanistan

Graham Thorpe has been named as Afghanistan‘s new head coach less than two months after his England sacking.

Thorpe lost his assistant coach position in early February as part of Andrew Strauss’ post-Ashes clear-out but will succeed Lance Klusener, whose contract with the Afghan board expired at the end of 2021.

Thorpe’s position as England assistant coach looked untenable after the conclusion of the Ashes, when police were called to the team hotel in Hobart because he was smoking a cigar inside the premises during a drinking session that lasted until 6am.

Former England batsman Graham Thorpe has been named as Afghanistan’s new head coach

He will succeed Lance Klusener, whose contract with Afghanistan expired at the end of 2021

The ECB launched an investigation in January after footage taken by Thorpe of Tasmanian police telling five Ashes stars — including Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson — to go to bed following a complaint about ‘intoxicated people’ ended up on the Sydney Morning Herald website.

Meanwhile, Root was named England’s MVP in Test cricket for the winter, ahead of his vice-captain Ben Stokes in second.

Root, who has taken to social media to reiterate his belief ‘there were a lot of positives to come from the way we played for the vast majority’ of a 1-0 series defeat to West Indies, also came out on top in the Professional Cricketers’ Association-run award last summer and for the previous winter’s matches in Sri Lanka and India.

Chris Woakes was named overall MVP for the winter after featuring in both Test and Twenty20 over cricket.

Thorpe lost his assistant coach position in early February as part of the post-Ashes clear-out

Meanwhile, England captain Joe Root was named his side’s MVP in Test cricket for the winter