"Thorpe quits", screamed the headline of The Daily Mail, but it wasn't quite as drastic as that. After contributing five runs and a dropped catch to England's impressive victory over India at Lord's, Graham Thorpe announced he would be "quitting cricket indefinitely", in an attempt to pick up the pieces of his shattered private life: "I am feeling very worn down and burnt-out by events off the field," he admitted, "which have become a major distraction for me." After retiring from the one-day game last month, and sitting out Surrey's match against Kent ten days ago, Thorpe's latest development came as little surprise: "The England management have plenty of personal sympathy for Thorpe," wrote Mike Dickson in The Daily Mail, "but they will also have to decide how much longer they can indulge this likeable but troubled man."

"For Thorpe, the past five days have felt like just another imposition in a life that has temporarily lost its lustre," wrote David Hopps in The Guardian. With his ex-wife Nicky threatening to emigrate to South Africa with her new love and Thorpe's two children, Henry and Amelia, "time spent in the field had felt like vital hours wasted."

"The best thing for Thorpe's equilibrium," mused Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times, "would surely be for him to feel a useful part of a team's success once again. Because of an ankle injury, now quite cured, and mental turmoil surrounding his wish to be with his young children as often as possible after his divorce, Thorpe was not the automatic selection for [the second Test at] Nottingham that he would be if he were focused and in the mood."

Despite his century at Old Trafford, and his 231-ball double-hundred at Christchurch last winter, Thorpe is some way from feeling indispensable in England's current side: "The England scorecard [at Lord's] was littered with performances from relative newcomers to Test cricket," wrote Dickson, "adding to the belief that individual inexperience need not be a bar to collective success."

But there is no doubt whatsoever that he remains an automatic selection for this winter's Ashes tour: "Unquestionably," continued Dickson, "what is best for England is a fit and ready Thorpe."

CMJ concurred: "For England to have their best chance of bearding the Australians in their den, Thorpe would be batting in the middle order. The moment when he broke his hand in the second Test last year was the one in which they effectively said farewell to the Ashes for the seventh time in succession.

Thorpe, as Hopps pointed out, "is one of only three batsmen to have averaged more than 40 against them in the past decade. But how can he fulfil a three-month tour of Australia, so far removed from his young children, in his present circumstances?"

"His career has been littered with tours both refused and prematurely abandoned," added Hopps. "The grim defiance that has made him such a valuable Test cricketer has periodically suggested a sportsman not in love with his craft."

"He's world class … " concluded the headline of the Mail, "but is he still worth the risk?" For the time being though, England have a series against India to win, and opportunity knocks for some lucky batsman. "An uncapped young batsman will be the likely beneficiary of the decision," declared CMJ, "probably Robert Key, of Kent, possibly Ian Bell, of Warwickshire."

But, if the selectors really do have one eye on the Ashes already, it could be that one of Thorpe's county colleagues will get the nod. Along with Thorpe and Graham Gooch, Mark Ramprakash is the unlikely third batsman of recent times to have averaged more than 40 against the Aussies.

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com

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