He was the perfect character for the younger players in that team: brilliant at passing on knowledge. He was actually at his best when you were on a bad run, making you believe you were through it. He’d tell you to stick to your processes and stay positive. Again, reminding you that it was only a game.

I loved that he always had a specific focus to his netting. He would just play forward defensives for half an hour, because that was what he was working on. Or he would try to sweep every single ball. We had a big focus on fitness in that team but Thorpey had a bad back by then, so was clinging on a bit. I just told him to pretend to do the fitness work in front of the other lads, which he was delighted with. He was worth bending the rules for.

Fletch and I were desperate to have Thorpey with us for the 2005 Ashes, but it didn’t work out. He played his 100th Test against Bangladesh and did well, but his back just wasn’t right so we made the very tough call to back the youth of Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. I was gutted for him that he didn’t get to be part of 2005 but his mindset and style of play had a huge influence on every member of the XI.

I think he is massively under-appreciated in English cricket. You don’t hear his name mentioned in the list of the greatest English batsmen, but he should be right up there. Certainly, for me, he was the best of the 1990s generation.