In his absence, Afghanistan have operated with local coach Raees Khan Ahmadzai at the helm on an interim basis. Thorpe – who signed up in March this year – was supposed to join the team in the last week of April but was unable to. He had a decade-long involvement within England’s coaching set-up, which came to an end after this winter’s 4-0 Ashes loss in Australia. He had replaced full-time Afghanistan head coach Lance Klusener, who stood down in November last year after a two-year tenure.