This murder inquiry just keeps getting uglier and uglier. In a recent development, the South African cricket commentator Neil Manthorp has told The Daily Mirror that Gill Woolmer and Bob's two sons have been informed by the police privately that the toxicology report though still inconclusive indicates Woolmer may have been poisoned by a natural toxin - such a snake venom. Despite the numerous and oft repeated theories of possible motives for the killer, I still can't imagine how anyone could be to kill some one like Bob for something as harmless as the game of cricket, let alone by means as horrific and appalling as some of the recent speculation in the media suggests. Poisoning by snake venom for God's sake? I can't describe how disturbing that idea is. Just the thought of it is making me quite sick.
Posted: 11:45 PM, Monday, April 23, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
I was about to go to bed when I recalled that I still haven't come around to do that Bob Woolmer murder inquiry round up post, I talked of doing LAST Monday, shame on being for being so lazy. I'm still far too lazy to recap everything that happened since I last blogged about the issue, but here's a quick round up to hopefully get things rolling again.
Dawn reported yesterday that The Jamaica Coroner's office had sent an official communication to the Pakistan Cricket Board requesting them to send Inzamam, Younis and Mushtaq to the West Indies before the inquest into Bob Woolmer's death begun on April 23.
The PCB however, is yet to confirm having received any such letters. I know there was a report in between some where that talked of Scotland Yard experts coming over to Pakistan to re-question some of the players and carry out more investigations, but a move to back WI for the players? That's a new one, certainly.
Reports coming out from West Indies meanwhile speak of some sort of "'significant development' possibly delaying the inquest, and I'm not sure if the first report about the players being called back would have any sort of link with this, but either way, the speed of this whole inquiry business certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
Call me spoiled by watching too many murder-inquiry shows on TV, but between all the personnel shifting from one continent to another (in addition to experts from Scotland Yard and Pakistan, a DNA forensic expert has been called in from Interpol) you'd have hoped they would have at least managed to obtain the results of that toxicology report.
Whenever is that coming? Its been a month since the death happened, how longer could it take? From the start, you'll have noticed that I've tried not to be too judgemental of the police on this, but I'm really starting to wonder a few things now.
Posted: 12:40 AM, Saturday, April 21, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
A report in The Sunday Mirror claimed yesterday that Woolmer was poisoned with the herb aconite, an ancient drug used by witches in the Middle Ages, which is also mentioned in the Harry Potter children's book series.
To make their claims sound more believable, The Mirror also informed us that this latest development comes after a man from Pakistan called the police via their international hot line number and told them about the herb, which comes in the form of a white powder and causes death by asphyxiation. The person, who did not give his name or any possible motive for the murder, said the herb might have been sprinkled over Woolmer's sleeping tablets or into his diabetes medicine.
The drug reportedly causes death within 30 minutes as the victim's internal organs begin to seize and their breathing slows down until its finally stops, leading to an excruciating death. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed police official, who regarded the the aconite tip is as "a major breakthrough" that was "being taken extremely seriously". New toxicology tests have now been ordered the report also said.
Read the full thing here and decide for your self if any of this is credible information. Meanwhile, the Bob Woolmer memorial service at the 100-year-old Sacred Heart Church in Lahore was held yesterday and was attended by Naseem Ashtaf, some seven Pakistani players, including Inzi, and some 400 other people. Punjab governor Khalid Maqbool was also on the spot, reportedly on behalf of the Patron, President Mushy him self, to earn some brownie points. Cricinfo have a report on that here along with some nice pictures.
Just thought I'd do a quick post on this before hopping off to bed; its quite late here, though with the World Cup in its third (?) week, my sleep cycles have fully adjusted by now. Anyway, back to the Bob Woolmer murder inquiry, the latest is that the police say he might have been strangled with the help of towel, also explaining why their weren't any marks on his neck. The Times is also reporting that a team of Scotland Yard detectives will travel to Jamaica next week to conduct a review of the Bob Woolmer murder, because in the words of Mark Shields him self, “sometimes you can miss the blindingly obvious”.
Despite whatever Mr. Shields might say now about still being "confident", I still see this as an admission that he isn't quite sure what to do next. No, I'm not apposed to further help coming in from the Scotland Yard, or even Pakistan (as has been reported), but I'm just pointing out, what frankly, I had started to feel ever since Mr. Shields started contradicting him self in various quotes being attributed to him (evidence 1, evidence 2), that the police out there probably looks a bit lost. Hopefully, the help from Scotland Yard will help the inquiry speed up again.
Staying on topic of Bob Woolmer, separate memorial services will take place this weekend in both Cape Town, South Africa and Lahore, Pakistan. The one in South Africa is a more formal one, with names like Allan Donald and Tim Noakes, co-author of Bob's upcoming book, in line to speak, and Bob's family, also, in line to appear, whereas the one up in Lahore is going to be a more simple, low-profile event at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. There will be service, which has been organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board, from 12 noon to 1pm local time, and it will be open to anyone who wishes to pay their respects to Woolmer. And with that, I'm off for the day (or night as I should probably call it now). Tata.
Posted: 4:06 AM, Saturday, March 31, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Pakistan may send its officials to help in investigation
So Naseem Ashraf has taken Justice Qayyum's advice. The official line is that the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has cleared a three membered team, consisting of a PCB official, a diplomat and a senior investigator, to be send to Jamaica to help the police there, subject to clearance from Mark Shileds and co. them selves. Osman Samiudddin has more, but given how certain members of the PCB have been quoted by the media as saying they do not think Woolmer was murdered at all, I'm not sure how keen Mark Shields, who has reiterated again that his team is sure Woolmer was murdered, will be on receiving such "assistance". But lets wait and see what happens.
Posted: 3:32 PM, Friday, March 30, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
I was watching a show on a local Urdu news channel here last night. Hosted by Hamid Mir, Geo TV's Capital Talk its a current events (and largely political) talk show but yesterday, its panel of guests included the likes of Sarfaraz Nawaz, Justice Qayyum and Senator Envor Baig, so you can understand what the discussion might have been like. Match fixing accusations and PCB-bashing was the order of the day, and much of what AFP is quoting Qayyum as saying here, was said repeated last night.
In short, he's asked the government to send their own investigation group to Jamaica to probe into the murder inquiry, because Woolmer, he said was, "our man, our coach". This is pretty much the only part of his rant that I do not disagree with, if the government wants they can send out their own group to assist the police in Jamaica, but the idea thereafter, that there should be "judicial inquiry" into the performance of the team it self, is one that I reject completely.
There are far more serious issues in this country that deserve a judicial inquiry of their own then the exit of the national team from the World Cup. If he's trying to imply the match was fixed, I'd still like to dismiss any such suggestions as utter rubbish. But when will this mentality go? Lose to a minnow and the match just has to be fixed. It can’t be that we had an off-day or that the opposition played some excellent cricket – you just have to suspect it of being fixed, some how.
I remember clearly how this was the case eight years ago when we lost to Bangladesh, everyone was seeing invisible smoke from invisible fires.I can’t recall the Australian public of suspecting such foul play when they lost to Bangladesh two years ago, or when Sri Lanka lost to Kenya four years ago. And that’s despite the fact that Australians are famous for being horrible losers. Hamid Mir, the host of the show, was revealing things he’d “seen” about that Bangladesh game, and it was shocking how he linked totally irrelevant stuff to try and prove the match was fixed. It was an utter disgrace.
It stumps me this aspect of mentality, it really does. I don’t know what it is because of; corruption is norm in the power strongholds of this country, but I don’t understand how it can make us so skeptical of integrity and honesty that we refuse to believe that it can exist at all. I really don’t know, but I wish I knew, and I could some how fix it.
PS: On a related note, Naseem Ashraf appeared before the Senate Standing Committe on Sports, headed by Enwar Baig, a few days ago, Cricinfo have a report on that here.
Posted: 2:22 PM, Friday, March 30, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
The Bane of Sports Journalism : Stereotyping & Hyperbole
This article by Mark Marqusee from a few days ago at The Guardian is an interesting and thoughtful read. Anyone who is aware of Marqusee's previous credentials (he is the author of the book Anyone But England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket) will not find its nature unsurprising, but it makes some very valid points.
Hyperbole may be the bane of sports journalism, but the unsubtle innuendo linking Pakistani cricketers to Bob Woolmer's ghastly murder goes beyond sensationalism. The rush to judgment here is fuelled by that other bane of sports journalism, national stereotyping.
Pakistan's shock loss to cricketing minnows Ireland, which led to their elimination from the World Cup, is said to be "under the microscope". The implication is that the match was fixed and that this is somehow related to Woolmer's murder. As conspiracy theories go, this one is particularly weak.
Given the team's abject performance on the day, virtually all the players would have had to have been bribed and the bribes would have had to have been on a colossal scale - sufficient to compensate for the huge financial loss, public humiliation, and termination of careers that would accompany an early exit from the cup. Neither the putative motive nor means are credible here.
There is, to hand, an alternative explanation: in recent months Pakistan has played dreadfully inconsistent cricket. Weeks before the players' arrival in the West Indies they were beaten by South Africa 3-1, bowled out once for a measly 107 and then for a barely more respectable 153. Ireland had already pulled off a surprise by tying with Zimbabwe days before encountering Pakistan.
The fact that three members of Pakistan's squad, including the captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, were questioned by police on Saturday was blazed in banner headlines. That police immediately confirmed the questioning was routine and declared that the entire team was free to leave the country was buried in the columns below.
But never mind the facts, it's easier to stick to stereotypes. We all know that south Asians take their cricket too seriously (which they do), that corruption is rife in these societies (which is true), and that wiliness and duplicity are part of the oriental (or Muslim) character (which is idiocy).
[...]
Virtually all contemporary societies take sport too seriously. That's not about national cultures, it's about global economics. Thanks to the IT and media explosions, international sport is becoming ever bigger business and consuming an ever larger slice of public attention. Hence the escalating investments by broadcasters, sponsors and advertisers, and, on the other side of the equation, the atomisation of spectators and the decline of other forms of collective identification.
The Jamaican police and the ICC should rigorously investigate any possible link between Woolmer's murder and match-fixing. But for the moment, what remains most disturbing is the juxtaposition of the triviality of sport with the taking of a human life. That's hard for any of us to assimilate.
That's very true. It is very fair to treat everyone us suspects, but suspect does not mean guilty, everyone should also be treated as innocent, until proven otherwise. There certainly has been quite of lot of hyperbole and knee jerk reaction in media coverage of this issue, but the mass generalisation has been more on the lines of religious stereotyping then national stereotyping.
Even in Pakistan it self, it is a convenient choice for many to pass judgements of the team's religious beliefs, and equate their poor performances with their often public display of it. But in the aftermath of our World Cup exit and Woolmer's murder, this has become a global past-time.
Take for example this article, written by B.Raman for The South Asia Analysis Group, it spins a theory (without any evidence of course) of links between Tableeghi Jamats and the murder of Woolmer, on the basis that some members of the team had associations with them.
The author, who is a so-called terrorism expert, has very conveniently equated all Tableeghi Jamaats, which is a generic term, literally meaning a group of people who are actively involved in preaching Islam, with jehadi organisations, when in reality, this is far from the truth. When I tried to remove this misconception at another related discussion at Desicritics, I was labeled a 'terrorism apologist'. This is not uncommon of course, from the Taliban, to Al-Qaeeda, to local Tableeghi Jamaats, everyone seems to have their own theories on who might have been involved, ignoring throughout, as Marqusee observed, that "neither the putative motive nor means" for most of such theories "are credible".
Keep a long beard, and pray five times a day, make it public at times, speak about how this makes you happy personally, dare to take part in any organised, civil, activity behind the banner of any civilised, progressive, non-profit, religious organization - and rest assured a good percentage of people will be viewing you with suspicion.
Religious organisations can never be progressive, or civil - they can never do any good for society. They always have to be 'jehadi'. It doesn't matter that for the better part majority of such organisations have their activities restricted to not much more then collective reflection on life and beyond, organised spirituality as I prefer to call it, but they must still be branded.
This is what the media ingrains into our minds. Religion it must be. The root of all evils. Marquee's right, though this probably isn't just 'the bane of sports journalism'. Its more widespread. To be precise, its everywhere. We seem, as a society at large, incapable of judging people on who they really are, and what they really do. Perception and prejudice has killed our rational thinking. May be guilty of it too at some level.
Posted: 12:58 PM, Friday, March 30, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Yesterday I wrote of my personal struggle to make sense of how the police were progressing in the Bob Woolmer murder inquiry, a day later, I'm still no closer to understanding whatever is going on out there. Take a look at some of these reports all of which quote Mark Shields:
Police investigating the murder of Bob Woolmer are to order a second post-mortem examination to guard against claims that the first report alleging strangulation is defective. Mark Shields, the Deputy Commissioner of Jamaican police, said that a second post mortem would preempt likely claims by a defence lawyer at a murder trial that the local pathologist who concluded that Woolmer was throttled had made mistakes. “If we arrest someone and charge them, the defence counsel will want a second post mortem,” Mr Shields said.
But, but, but...new reports are now coming in that say:
Jamaica's deputy police commissioner Mark Shields on Wednesday denied media reports that a second autopsy would be performed on the body of Bob Woolmer. "I can assure you there is no post mortem, there is no planned second post mortem," Shields was quoted by AFP. He added that any post mortem would only be announced in consultation with the Kingston coroner's office. "If there was any question of a second post mortem it would be something that I would discuss with him and announce," Shields said.
So this means that Shields has been reported to have implied that a 2nd autopsy will be held and will not be held, and that too both within the span of the same day! Talk about contradicting your self! Looks like at this stage at least, your guess about what exactly is happening, or happens next, is as good as any one's.
Posted: 1:18 PM, Thursday, March 29, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Either Mark Shileds has no where close to finding Woolmer's murderer (if there is such a thing) or he's has a tendency to be oft misquoted. I earlier linked to the Cricinfo report here in which he has quite clearly said that the police has ruled out the Pakistani players as suspects and were now treating them as witnesses.
Turns out the next day he is being quoted by Guardian as saying this is not the case, in facts he describes PJ Mir's "claims" to that effect as being "inaccurate", repeating that "nobody could be ruled out".
Well Shields, if that is the case, why did you say only 24 hours earlier that "It's fair to say they are now being treated as witnesses". Does the 'they' in that statement not refer to the same Pakistani players?
Also, several news agencies have reported the results of the first autopsy were not accurate, but Guardian added that he might not have been murdered at all. In that same Guardian report linked to earlier, an unnamed PCB official is quoted as implying that the Jamaican police had acted 'hastily' by declaring Woolmer's death as murder:
"We believe that the autopsy by the pathologist may have had error counts and [the police] are now considering having a second autopsy to confirm the cause of death," said the official. "The feedback we have got is there are some contradictions in the version of events after Woolmer was found unconscious. But we will get a clearer picture after our manager briefs the board on what took place there"
This has now forced Shileds and co. to order a second autopsy, though he maintained, that the police was confident they first one was accurate and he in particular was 'sure' that Woolmer was murdered. He conceded, nevertheless, that it was an issue that might be brought up by the defense after they make arrests and trial is held.
Meanwhile, back home, our players have returned, half of them in Karachi, half in Lahore, and obviously, they weren't exactly welcomed back with open arms. But still, the way its been reported in the media has disappointed me (Cricinfo say the ones at Karachi were "heckled by a crowd of around 100 people" some of which chanted stuff like "go to hell").
In Lahore things were calmer, but only because the players were let out secretly through the cargo section. One waiting fan there, reportedly said, "We didn't want to hurt them, we just wanted to vent our frustration". Yeah right, by shouting out stuff like "go to hell"?
Sad to see that even the tragic events of last three weeks has brought back very little perspective into the psyche of the obsessive cricket fan here. Very, sad indeed.
Posted: 3:31 AM, Thursday, March 29, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Mark Shields: Pakistan no longer suspects in Woolmer case
For now at least, the police have confirmed the Pakistani players are only "witnesses" not suspects. While I have been a tad irritated by attempts from some people to paint us as the guilty party, I've been equally appalled by demands, mostly made by on-lookers at home, that we ought to have been "treated better".
The Daily Express actually carries a feature analysis page (link to report in Urdu) on this today, brewing theories about how the team has been "targeted" unfairly, and how this is all a conspiracy against them.
In another of their reports(link in Urdu again), one of the players, who wished to remain anonymous, told them from his London hotel room that they team was not happy with the PCB for leaving them in the lurch at a difficult time (PCB chief Naseem Ashraf flew back to Pakistan around the time of Woolmer's death after having previously hung around when there was no need for him to do so).
Furthermore, that player also added that Younis Khan had a verbal confrontation with manager Talat Ali in this respect, and that everyone in general was not happy at being questioned. Another commentator right here at Sundries similarly expressed his disgust at the way the players were asked to give their fingerprints and DNA tests, arguing (wrongly in my opinion) that if it was the Australian players and coach instead of the Pakistani ones involved, they'd never have been "treated" like this.
To all these people, I really have just one question. Why do we insist that we be treated like the high and mighty? Why this urge to present our selves as victims? Treated unfairly? Give me a break. In any normal murder investigation, where the police come to the conclusion that the victim was killed by some one he knew, people who knew him would be interrogated. DNA tests and finger prints would also have been taken.
As has been reported in the media, the Pakistani players are not the only ones to have been DNA tested, Brian Lara and Clive Lloyd, who were residing in the same hotel, were also tested, and players from West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe were all questioned. I haven't heard of any complains from them of being "treated unfairly".
If say, hypothetically, that Bob's own family members had been around in Jamaica at the time, they too would have been questioned and their DNA tests and fingerprints taken. This is what the police need to do in order to catch the killer.
If the players, like they have been saying, are sure of their actions, they should have no qualms in co-operating with any kind of investigation procedures, and yes, it may been a difficult thing for them emotionally, given a lot of them were very close to Bob, but this is, as I have said all along, normal investigation procedure. In fact, I was disappointed that team was so eager to run out of Jamaica on the first available opportunity.
Equally, for those eager to directly point fingers at individual players (like some commentators here, here and here) they ought to know that making allegations without evidence is a serious thing (just ask Darrel Hair).
It is the job of the police to find out who killed Woolmer and we should not speculate. For the umpteenth time, let them to their job. If the police had sufficient reason to detain any of the Pakistani players, they would have done so.
Mark Shields did say he didn't ask the players to stay back because it might have created a "diplomatic incident" but he also said the police did not have the evidence to detain them, if they did, the players would have been detained, diplomatic incidence or not. There is no, and can be no cover up - for that can lead to an ever greater diplomatic Occident, to use Shield's word.
Posted: 1:24 PM, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
PJ Mir makes a laughing stock of him self yet again
One of the dreams I've had ever since I've called my self an 'aspiring journalist' is being able to interview people. Ask them tricky questions. Emotional questions. Even sarcastic questions. I've even got my own mental notebook where I've already thought up of questions for a lot of the present day players and a d m i n i s t r a t o r s .
Take Imran Nazir for example, I've seriously always wanted to know what exactly goes on in his mind as he's about to play a shot which 9 times out of 10 will cost him his wicket. What has this got to do with PJ Mir, you might wonder. I'm coming to that. You see, I've just thought of a question for him, and it goes a bit like, "Who exactly do you think you are, King of World perhaps?"
Seriously. This man is basically a once upon a time Pakistan cricketer (I think he played 1 match for us at best) and then made a career as TV show host because he can speak good English, and a few weeks ago that same talent landed him his present job of Pakistan's media manager.
Ever since he's been hired he's done nothing but blab off incessantly on non-issues. His latest outburst is that the Pakistani players are being "kept in the dark" by the Jamaica police about the investigations into Bob Woolmer's murder.
"We assisted in whatever way they [the Jamaican police] wanted, but we need an official statement from their office to notify us officially as to the causes of Mr Woolmer's death. We heard on television that he was murdered, but we've not been officially told and we need to know the reasons for his death."
There's a whole lot of other impressive sounding rubbish over at Cricinfo in which he also goes on about how his chairman, and his board wants to know what the police are doing to catch Bob's murderer. Well, Mr. Mir, let me enlighten you.
The Jamaica police is under no obligation what so ever to send you an official statement, and keep you posted on how much or how less they're doing to catch Woolmer's killer. If they're answerable to anyone at all, its Bob's family and government of Jamaica, who pays them.
Not you. Not the PCB. Bob was our coach, but we have no business expecting that the police will give us blow-by-blow updates on how they're progressing in their investigations. If you're so interested, switch on your TV sets or log on to the Internet and you'll know a great deal about how much they're doing.
You aren't royalty, so stop expecting that you will be treated like them. Let the police do their job, and stop telling them what to do. They're far more competent then you can ever hope to be. In short, get a life.
Posted: 1:56 AM, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
“Cricket will live through anything. It is my firm belief that it will provide the bridge for politicians to cross and not the weapon they will use to knock it down.” — Bob Woolmer (1984)
This is how the last paragraph of late Bob Woolmer’s autobiography Pirate & Rebel starts. This Sunday's Magazine section of the Dawn carried a snapshot of a signed copy of the book owned by some one called Afzal Ahmed, it was published in the supplement's regular Scrapbook section, along with the following message:
One hope authorities would give a little thought to his words and stop running cricketing affairs like they are running (read ‘ruining’) the country.
How tragically ironic, isn't it, that a man who had so much faith in our sport's great capability to make people overcome their differences and come together on the field of play, should have scarified his life, for that same sport he so fervently believed could act as "a bridge". Cricket really did take his life.
And the very least we could do in return now is to uphold that spirit of cricket Bob had so much faith in. I had hinted before that I had mixed feeling about this World Cup, but having read this, I don't think there's any doubt left in my mind now; the game really must go on. That's what Bob would have wanted if he was alive. Cricket, as he said, can live through anything.
Posted: 5:51 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Mark Shields is now saying he let the Pakistani players go because the police didn't have sufficient evidence to detain any of them, and because they couldn't have held them in Jamaica against their will; he also told The Times that if he had forced them to stay it would have created a diplomatic incident, in addition to having an "extremely adverse effect on the World Cup".
I'm really not sure what I should make of this. It contradicts the view expressed by Shields earlier in which he said that there had been nothing but co-operation from the Pakistani players and management, which is something I don't have a very good feeling about at all.
Meanwhile, Shehreyar Khan, the former PCB chief, is in the news again, after telling the BBC yesterday that "he thinks" () 'spot-fixing' still goes on the international level (more on this issue of match fixing later), he's now written at Cricinfo, recalling his interactions with Bob during his reign as the PCB chief.
He presents him self increasingly as the only true supporter of Bob there was at any level of the PCB, suggesting that Bob had cricketing difference with not only Inzi, but also a few other "senior and junior" players in the team,
He also added that since his resignation Bob was always concerned of his authority being undermined by other senior PCB officials, which you can safely assume to mean Naseem Ashraf.
This clearly confirms the view being speculated in the media ever since Ashraf came in that Bob's relationship with the board had been worsening, which in turn, is another of several reasons why President Musharraf should have accepted his resignation.
Will the nepotism culture in this country ever end?
Posted: 5:05 PM, Monday, March 26, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Bob Woolmer Case: Two Pakistan Players Ordered To Stay Back In Jamaica?
TV Jamaica is reporting that two of Pakistan's players have been ordered to stay back in the West Indies in connection with the Bob-Woolmer murder investigation. The rest of the team they add were free to leave. They two players, unnamed of course, have been asked to take part in the inquest which is to be conducted in the presence of a jury at the earliest possible time. This is devastating news for all of world cricket if its true. I'll keep searching for more confirmation on this so please stand by.
Elsewhere, people have been guessing a mild argument may have ensued between Woolmer and the players, in fact DNA India have produced a full fledged pictorial sideshow of how Woolmer might have been murdered, CricketWorldCupLatest.com also have a report. I quote:
It is widely believed that coach Bob Woolmer was involved in an argument with the Pakistani team members while returning back to the team hotel on the bus, after their shock defeat to Ireland last Saturday.
However, the spat faded out as they reached the foyer and went to their rooms at the Pegasus hotel in Kingston. The Herald Sun reported on Thursday, that Woolmer stayed in his room – No. 375 on the 12th floor on that fateful night.
As he often did, Woolmer had room service, numbly digesting the loss by sending some emails, including one to his wife Gill.
In the last email sent on his computer, which is now in the possession of police, Woolmer said the loss, as devastating as it was, did not cut as deeply as that of South Africa in the 1999 World Cup in England. The email was sent at about 3am, Jamaican time.
Then, sometime that morning, he was strangled to death.
UPDATE 1: P J Mir has categorically denied all such reports. Furthermore, people are now saying there is "suspicion of a cover up being attempted by Jamaican authorities". I don't know who to believe and who not to.
UPDATE 2: Just wanted to add this link, its a report from the BBC carrying quotes from Richard Pybus, the former South African who coached Pakistan in and around our last World Cup campaign. He's raised a valid point, saying "People must be very sensitive about this not becoming anti-Pakistani". In the light of what some of the media in the UK have been saying following Bob's death ("It is a tragedy, but one you could not see befalling any other team but Pakistan", Derek Pringle, The Daily Telegraph; "Whatever the rumours, conspiracy theories or sheer lies...Woolmer would almost certainly still be alive if he had not taken on the job of Pakistan coach", John Etheridge, The Sun) it is a relevant point.
Not everyone in Pakistan is fanatically obsessed with the game, its important to recognise that all the mobs we hear about routinely protesting by burning effigies and the like, represent the minority of the cricket fans here. It would be extremely sad if the good name of all of Pakistan Cricket's followers is tarnished because of the acts of those few. I hope the world sees the bigger picture. And on that note, enough blogging for today. I'm off here now.
UPDATE: Breaking news from the BBC commentary I'm tuned into. P J Mir has told one of the BBC's correspondents that Inzi and Mushy have been further questioned by the Jamaica Police. Mir also added, the correspondent said, that the team was still expected to leave on Saturday (it still is Saturday in the West Indies of course) and their bags were packed.
I suppose this is in line with normal inquiry procedures, given Mushtaq and Inzi, were according to what the commentators also said, one of the first people to go inside Bob's room once he was found unconscious, so I suppose the police would want the maximum amount of information from them. Will update with more news on this tomorrow morning. Fascinating game between SA and Australia today. More on that tomorrow as well. Tata for now.
Posted: 4:49 PM, Saturday, March 24, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Lots of people have been coming up with ideas on how Pakistan should pay tribute to Bob Woolmer. Some of the suggestions are honorable and one hopes the powers to be higher up are listening.
The President did announce a civil award for him yesterday, but a need to do more can be felt by everyone alike. Kamran Abbasi, in his Cricinfo blog, has recommended establishing “a sports science and cricket institute at a major university in Pakistan” and name it after Bob.
A letter to the editor in today’s Dawn has called to rename the National Stadium after him and other people in press have previously suggested making a memorial for him inside one of the bigger stadiums in the country, namely the NSK and Gadaffi.
All of these, as I said, are admirable suggestions, but I think the biggest homage we could pay Woolmer (at this stage at least) would be if we showed more consideration of how all the speculation about the reasons for his murder would affect his grieving family.
Mukal Kesaven has written about how the media has been eager to jump up to conclusions, and I agree with him completely. We need to show some sensitivity. This isn't a game of cricket these people are speculating about, it is some one's life.
Amongst all the conjecture about his death, some people have had the sense and heart to do more meaningful things. Professor Tim Noakes, co-author of Bob's upcoming and much talked about book Discovering Cricket, Jonty Rhodes, Barry Richards and Bob’s wife, Gill Woolmer, have established a trust to fund a number of projects in South Africa, including a training academy, in Bob’s memory.
Amongst other things the money raised will fund the creation of a BobWoolmerCricketAcademy outside Nelspruit in the eastern Mpumalanga province, and will also ensure his book on the art and science of cricket gets published.
Allan Donald, the former South African fast bowler has meanwhile called on the World Cup to be abandoned in such circumstances, but Malcolm Speed, has said, rightly, that “a coward, criminal act” should not putt off any sporting event.
Allan admits Bob would probably want things to go ahead him self if he was alive, but says he cannot comprehend how this World Cup will be remembered for anything else except Bob’s murder.
He’s probably right about that too, but we’d be paying too much respect to whomever the mad-man responsible for Woolmer’s death was by calling of the event because of his actions. As Michael Vaughan also says, “the game must go on”.
UPDATE: The BBC are running a debate, along with a poll, on whether the World Cup should go ahead or not; elsewhere, as the investigation into his murder continues, the police have announced that his body will stay in Jamaica for further inquest.
Posted: 1:10 PM, Saturday, March 24, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Bob Woolmer's death : The speculation continues...
Following the official announcement yesterday, it is almost as if everyone has considered it their god-given responsibility to think up of a reason for why he was murdered and by whom. One indifferent commentator on the Cricket Bloggers of Pakistan website quickly accused Mohammad Yousuf and Danish Kaneria.
While the police, so far, have been saying Pakistan players are not suspects at this stage, and have also denied making any arrest, Kamran Abbasi, this time in Dawn, has said that all of Pakistan’s players and officials are “prime suspects whether or not this will be publicly admitted by the police”.
Understandably, the players themselves are appalled by such assertions, Shahid Afridi has termed them “rubbish”. Pakistani players did however give their DNA tests yesterday, and it would appear they’ll leave for Pakistan today (i.e. Saturday evening).
Elsewhere, Rashid Latif and Sarfaraz Nawaz have continued to give forthright analysis on how bookies might be involved, some have gone ahead and even taken the name of underground don Dawood Ibrahreem.
But here again, they’re just as many opponents of this theory as there are rumor mongers. Moin Khan has hit back on Sarfaraz’s statement in particular, arguing that former Pakistani paceman thinks every match is fixed, other people including Bob’s family, Naseem Ashraf, and the co-author of Bob’s much talked about upcoming book, Discovering Cricket, Professor Tim Noakes, have also denied this sort of speculation. Woolmer’s family has also denied he received any death threats.
In the same Dawn column by Kamran Abbasi linked to above, Abbasi has also talked about another of Bob’s books, “this is the book Woolmer told me he was writing about his experiences with Pakistan Cricket”.
Abbasi goes on to say Woolmer had already formed various theories on why Pakistan Cricket had failed to succeed at the highest level. Now I wouldn’t know why a book of this nature would entice anyone to kill Woolmer, or even if it would help in his murder investigation in anyway, but if there is such a book, or even a book in the making, it would certainly make for interesting reading.
UPDATE: Osman Samiuddin has now confirmed Bob approached him in connection with writing such a book, Cricinfo have more on this.
Posted: 1:00 PM, Saturday, March 24, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Aftermuchspeculation through out the week, the police have now confirmed that our former coach Bob Woolmer was strangled to death and hence murdered. The full press release form the corps can be read here, but one doesn't really need to read any special statements to know just how devastating this bit of news is.
You could take your pick from the conspiracy theories galore about the killer (or killers') possible motivation for killing Bob. The most popular one is that it may have been a maniac 'fan' who vented out his anger for the loss against Ireland, but people (including the media) have also been saying an involvement of bookies cannot be ruled out, given his forthcoming book was expected to reveal a lot of information on match fixing.
Others have done their calculations and suggested that President Musharraf him self may be involved (to divert attention from a growing political and judicial turmoil at home in Pakistan they allege), further more suggestion point fingers at no less then the Taliban or Jaamat-e-Islami it self.
Some of my friends were of the opinion it could well be just some ordinary drunk, mob or burglar who tried to rob Woolmer, but when he probably found nothing in his possession worth stealing, he got outraged and killed him.
But that's unlikely, given newspaper reports have confirmed the police did not find any evidence of the door lock at Bob's hotel was tampered with, giving rise to the conclusion that he probably knew the killer, and so let him in without any confrontation.
Another theory, hence, could also be that it may be some one who had nothing to do with cricket at all, some one who perhaps had a personal grievance against him. I don't know if I subscribe to any of these theories really, I'm just shocked and struggling to come to terms with how some one may be driven to take some one else's life in such a sickening, horrible manner. It just shocks me, more then anything.
Our players were questioned as a standard part of the investigation yesterday, and their fingers prints were taken as well, and there were reports that some players weren't happy about this, because it made them feel like they were being treated as suspects. I can understand where the players are coming from, a lot of them have come out spoken and about how Bob was like a father to them, and most of them will have been personally affected by his death.
In such circumstances it may be uncomfortable for them to be part of the investigation into Bob's murder, but this is standard procedure, and more then that, any information from any one which might lead to finding the killer must be explored. Whoever it was, whatever his, her or their motive was, I just hope he is brought to task.
Posted: 1:10 PM, Friday, March 23, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
This is getting uglier and uglier. Jamaican newspapers have quoted police officials as saying they suspect Woolmer may have been strangled to death, and his wife Gill, after previously having slammed speculation of similar nature, has now conceded that there might be the possibility her late husband was murdered. In less depressing news elsewhere, the Pakistani government has announced to honor Woolmer with the prestigious civil award Sitara-e-Imtiaz (posthumous), Geo News have more.
Posted: 8:37 PM, Thursday, March 22, 2007 in Bob Woolmer
Bob Woolmer's Death : The Investigation & Speculations Continue
Its being reported now that the Pakistani players are now being questioned too in association with the investigation into Bob's death. Cricinfo's The Surfer has a media round up of all the speculation that has arisen since the inconclusive findings of the autopsy yesterday, but you'd be well advised to hear this audio link from the BBC. Its a mini interview of Bob's wife, Gill, in which she refutes speculation that her husband may have taken his own life following Pakistan's exit from the World Cup, in addition to slamming some of the other media speculation surrounding the reason's of Woolmer's death.
I hope the media show some respect for the family's sentiments and not make a complete drama out of this, certain people have been linking all sorts of stuff to his death. GEO news yesterday I saw did an extended report full of rubbish about how his forthcoming book in which there were revelations about match fixing could have been a cause for him to be murdered. Other hyperbole creators have also been spreading rumors about how Islamic groups, or tableeghi jamaats as they're called, may have part. All hogwash of the highest order. These people should realise how some of this speculation will make his grieving family feel. Just leave this matter alone I say, and let the investigation take its course.
The speculation yesterday that Bob Woolmer might have died due to drug and alcohol abuse may still proved to be incorrect, but police officials have nevertheless termed the results of Woolmer's autopsy inconclusive, and hence his sudden death 'suspicious'.
Further tests to determine the cause of death have now been requested, and everyone awaits their results. The Jamaica deputy police commissioner Mark Shields said they treated any sudden death as suspicious and that the pathologists just wanted to be absolutely sure, but with rumors of "marks" being found around the neck of the dead body also around, its not hard to see why they went in for more tests.
That Woolmer might have been murdered is another devastating bit of news for the Pakistan players, whose state of mind ahead of our final game against Zimbabwe would have been bad as it following the news of Woolmer's death and Inzi's one-day retirement.
I'm not surprised Cricinfo reported that the players were "reluctant" to play, but reportedly Naseem Ashraf asked them to play on. Mushtaq Ahmed, the assistant coach, led the charge in our practice session ahead of the match, and later spoke to press about the mood in the Pakistani camp and how much the players have been affected; Dileep Premachandran has the quotes in a poignant preview of the match for Cricinfo here.
PJ Mir has also confirmed the players will be taking part in a small remembrance ceremony after the game, but as Dileep says in the preview also, the best tribute we can hope to give Woolmer, in the circumstances, is by winning.
“Cricket will live through anything. It is my firm belief that it will provide the bridge for politicians to cross and not the weapon they will use to knock it down.” — Bob Woolmer (1984)
) 'spot-fixing' still goes on the international level (more on this issue of match fixing later), he's now 
