Surrey legend Graham Thorpe will be returning to the Brit Oval as a specialist batting coach next season.

Thorpe, who represented Surrey 189 times in first class cricket and averaged 44.97, will work with the first and second team squads, Pemberton Greenish Surrey Academy and a number of highly talented young cricketers in the club's age group squads.

The gritty left hander, who also played 100 Test matches – becoming the tenth leading run scorer in English cricket history and securing a superb average of 44.66 – is returning to Surrey after three years away.

During this time he worked as both assistant coach and specialist batting coach of Australian state side New South Wales and was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 2006.

Thorpe said: "I've been associated with the club for three decades, I'm passionate about Surrey doing well and am looking forward to working with the players, cricketing staff and everyone involved with Surrey to bring back success to thecClub as soon as possible."

Speaking about the appointment, the Managing Director of Surrey Cricket Gus Mackay said: "Bringing in Graham has two huge benefits: one is that he's Surrey through and through and second is that he has played cricket at the highest level and coached in Australia, which is a very competitive environment.

"He's been there, he's done it, he's respected and he knows the game inside out. This appointment shows that we are totally committed to developing our own players. All our players, and in particular the batters, will benefit from Graham being a part of the cricket management team."