Graham Thorpe shambles down the stairs from the dressing room at The Oval, looking 34 going on 44. There’s a bit of a stoop, plenty of stubble, and an errant shirt-tail. Has he had a night on the beer? Well, you never know, but that’s not really the new Thorpe style.

Is his back playing up? Well, yes it is; he’s just come off the physiotherapist’s coach, but it’s nothing serious, apparently.

The truth is that Thorpe now has a lived-in face. Not because one of England’s premier batsmen has endured 10 years dealing with the world’s best bowlers — although he has — but because this is a man who has travelled the deepest gorge in the valley of despair.

However, now that he has returned to the sunny hills — a journey completed with the “life-changing experience” of a century in his comeback Test at The Oval eight days ago — he is prepared to survey 15 harrowing months with more frankness than ever before.

Anybody who thinks the life of an international sportsman is one of milk and honey ought to listen to Thorpe’s tale of a shattered marriage and wrecked career — and think again.

“I went through a period of mental illness,” he said, recalling what happened when he walked out on playing cricket for England and Surrey last year. “There were times when I didn’t want to come out from my house. I went through a terrible time and was seriously depressed. I was made to feel very guilty by my ex-wife. She was wrong to do that.

“I looked after her and gave her everything she wanted, and she chucked it all back in my face. I didn’t deserve that. She pushed me into a hole. I have learnt to live with that, and I’m learning to forgive her so that maybe later in life we may be friends.”

Is it an exaggeration to say he had a mental breakdown? “No. It was a total breakdown. That’s why I don’t ever get too smart on life. There are things I’ve dreamt about rewriting — and coming away last year from Lord’s (after scoring 4 and 1 against India) looking a sad figure was one of them. It was a terrible way to leave cricket, but I was pretty messed up. Cricket was the furthest thing from my mind. My career was wrecked.

“It’s made me realise that you must enjoy life when you get the opportunity. You must grab it with both hands.”

Thorpe’s marriage was falling apart after years of winters touring and tabloid revelations of a one-night stand in New Zealand in 1997. The end came when he discovered that his wife had taken a new partner into the family home. He struggled for access to his two young children, and after a long fight secured an arrangement to see them regularly.

“I made one balls-up, but from that day I lived six years on the circuit knowing how good I was. Then all of a sudden there’s another bloke living in my house with my children and my wife. That was way out of order. I made a mistake when I was drunk and not really in control. That was bad, but not premeditated or planned. I think that what she did was despicable.

“I’ve dealt with it now, but I had to take a lot. I walked out (to bat) with people shouting out ‘Shagger’. It’s happened at county grounds and all the way through New Zealand last year.

“That’s why I knew I couldn’t go to Australia last winter, because I knew there was no way I could have coped with that. I had to block it out, and that takes mental strength. Now you can say what you like in front of my face. I’ve moved on. I’m in a better place now in my life than I have been for years.