The England batsman Graham Thorpe has announced his retirement from one-day international cricket. Thorpe, who missed the last four games of the NatWest Series, made the announcement shortly after England's narrow defeat by India in today's final.

The Surrey left-hander, who turns 33 next month, says he wishes to concentrate on Test cricket, and spend more time with his young children.

Thorpe was thought to be a leading candidate for England's World Cup squad in South Africa next year. But he said this evening that the demands of combining Test and one-day international cricket were becoming too great for him.

"In terms of keeping my body fit it's becoming harder to do, playing both Tests and one-day internationals so I've decided to concentrate on just playing Test matches," Thorpe said.

"I also want to have more time to build a relationship with my two children, given my new personal circumstances at home."

Thorpe has played in 82 one-day internationals, scoring 2380 runs at an average of 37, with a strike rate of 71 runs per 100 balls. He returned home early from England's tour to India last winter following the breakdown of his marriage.

The England coach Duncan Fletcher said: "Graham's been a fantastic one-day player for England and we'll miss him but we look forward to him continuing to be a key player in our Test match side."

"Graham got an injury half-way through this series, which allowed us to play Michael Vaughan," Fletcher added.

"Given that he let us know his decision to retire from the one-day team at that time, we decided it was a good opportunity to continue with Michael in the side and let him gain further valuable experience in one-day international cricket."

© CricInfo Ltd.