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Cricket-Thorpe hoping to relive former glories

COLOMBO, Nov 28 - England batsman Graham Thorpe
aims to relive one of his greatest achievements when the first
test against Sri Lanka starts on Tuesday.

Thorpe's nerveless batting was crucial to England's success
on their last tour of Sri Lanka in 2001.

The 34-year-old left-hander played match-winning innings in
the final two tests, finishing the series with 269 runs at an
average of 67.25.

Sri Lanka off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes Thorpe's
wicket may be the key to next month's three-test series.

"Thorpe was superb during that series and he is the key man
this time too," Muralitharan told Reuters.

"He's patient, picks up the length quickly and works the
ball around cleverly," added Muralitharan.

Thorpe looked unlikely to play a role as he struggled to
regain his place in the side after a string of personal
problems.

But he was recalled for the final test against South Africa
at the Oval, a must-win game for England who needed victory to
avoid a series defeat.

Thorpe scored an emotional 124 in front of his home crowd to
book a place on tours to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

"It was massive game and probably the best innings of my
life," Thorpe told reporters.

"It's been a long road coming back, but I am really enjoying
my cricket at the moment and I feel that every day I play for
England is a bonus."

He hopes to reproduce the purple patch he enjoyed on the
last Sri Lanka tour.

"It was incredible to come back to win the series last time
and was certainly one of the greatest achievements I have had
playing for England," he said.

"I have very good memories of playing here, and am very
proud of my role in that series, but we all start again on
nought unfortunately."

Thorpe's main task will be to nullify Muralitharan.

"Obviously Murali is a big player for Sri Lanka and we have
to have ideas as to how we are going to play against him," he
said.

"He can quite easily get you out early, but if you can get
used to him you can survive, so the important thing to do is to
try and hang in there at the start.

"Fortunately, we have a few decent left-handers in the top
six and, hopefully, one of us will be able to score big runs
against him."

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