It is a worrying sign that one of the game's leading players is prepared to make such a decision just six months before its most prestigious tournament, the World Cup.The England fast bowler Darren Gough, who missed the first three Test matches of the summer against Sri Lanka with a knee injury, does not feel that Thorpe will be the last to make such a decision. His reasons were because the physical and social demands of playing both one-day and Test cricket had become too much and one of them had to be sacrificed. The volume of cricket being played by international cricketers was on top of the agenda yesterday as the International Cricket Council held its annual meeting at Lord's with eight of the game's 10 captains. While there was sympathy towards the demands put on players, and a realisation that the number of games played has reached saturation point, there was no indication that there will be a reduction in the amount of international cricket played.Nowhere have the pressures of playing international cricket been more clearly visible than with last weekend's decision by Graham Thorpe to retire from one-day cricket. For one thing it can mean that you have absorbed the meaning of your loss.. "A fluke," said England.There is no need to grovel in defeat, but a touch of grace is never misplaced.

It was, you had to fear, shades of another English reaction to a result touched by magic, Ronaldinho's stunning free-kick which left David Seaman so nonplussed in the World Cup quarter-final. But he might consider the value of taking himself a little less seriously.His post-game suggestion that the Indians, who celebrated their glorious victory with a joy which brilliantly demolished the growing belief that professional sportsman increasingly play only for themselves, had operated "out of their skins" also hinted that there was something a touch freakish about their victory. Hussain took his revenge hot, and the result was a petty little dish indeed.He has done a good job as captain and is a ferociously competitive cricketer. Ian Botham was known to wave his bat derisively at the press box from time to time, and Seb Coe – described as England's Lord Byron of the track by the late Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray when he sped to gold in the 1500 metres at the 1984 Olympics – treated the hacks who had written him off with a particularly biting gesture of scorn. But neither of them made quite the meal of it produced by Nasser Hussain at Lord's, after scoring a century which he plainly believed had devastated those critics who argued that he should not bat at No 3 in one-day internationals. "He'll not make the same mistake again," said Charles after Smith had finished in sixth place.. Having thought he would be elsewhere and having "not even tried", he nevertheless carried off yesterday's top prize.Cecilia, who came from Michelle Grubb in the United States, will jump again in today's Grand Prix, but Charles does not expect a repeat success and regards Robert Smith as the likely Grand Prix winner.Yesterday, riding Marius Claudius, Smith set out on a determined bid for victory until the bay stallion ran out at the same fence as Karina, having also attempted it on an angle. This mare was among the horses to change stables when Twomey moved from Michael Whitaker's yard four months ago to set up on his own.Michael Whitaker missed this show to ride at Hachenburg in Germany as a representative of Paul Schockem?'s PSI team.This left Charles, also a member of the team, free to compete here – although it was not until the end of last week that the decision was made.

Hunt had originally sent this compact 10-year-old bay mare to the Whitakers' Yorkshire yard for Robert's father, John, to ride.It was the son, however, who clicked with her almost immediately – and the owner is delighted with Karina's excellent results.Billy Twomey completed a satisfactory day for the Irish (who had filled the top two places in the earlier Two Phase contest in which Harry Marshall defeated Charles) by finishing third on Anastasia III. Having had the grey mare for barely a month, Charles had decided to school her around the jump-off course and he was therefore amazed to find he was the victor, having been the only one of seven to go clear in the deciding round. Robert Whitaker was certainly trying when he achieved the fastest time (4.37 seconds faster than that of the winner) to be runner-up on Liz Hunt's Karina, who made her only mistake when taking the fourth of the jump-off fences at an oblique angle. Peter Charles said he was "not even trying" when he rode Cecilia to win in yesterday's The Classic, on the second day of the Essex International Show here. We are lucky to have him and Steve Drowne who are not only good jockeys but good lads too.". He seemed to come through it all right today, and while he is not in any more Group Ones, we might think about the Champion Stakes."We will give him three weeks off and then bring him back fresh and he will come back like a lion."I am pleased for Chris. Since the mighty Majestic Prince made $250,000 in Kentucky in 1967 and went on to take the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, only $2.9m purchase A P Indy (1992 Belmont) and $4m snip Fusaichi Pegasus (2000 Kentucky Derby) have won US Triple Crown races.