(Left)Pakistan's bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed cuts a forlorn figure outside the Jamaica Pegasus hotel last Sunday hours after news was released that Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was dead.
(Right)Grief-stricken Inzamam-ul-Haq (left), captain of Pakistan's cricket team and all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, outside the Jamaica Pegasus last Sunday. - photos by Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
LONDON (AP):
Bob Woolmer's murder at the Cricket World Cup illustrates how far removed the sport is from the sedate image that many people associate with the game.
Modern-day professional cricket is plagued by doping scandals, match fixing, ball-tampering, cheating and riots. Police in Jamaica are trying to discover whether the strangling of Woolmer, the Pakistan team coach, in his hotel room was connected to the sleazy side of the sport.
Over the past 15 years, cricket has become a target for gamblers and bookmakers, especially in Asia. Big money bets have led to a series of match-rigging cases.
"There's an underground business and the bookmakers are ruining the game," said former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald, who played under Woolmer. "It seems to me that will never stop because bookmakers have such easy access to players."
Cheating
On the field, players have been caught cheating scratching the surface of the ball or lifting the seam to make it deviate more in flight. The first round of the World Cup in the Caribbean was supposed to be a routine succession of cricket powers easily knocking out the underdogs before moving on to the more competitive round-robin.
Pakistan's stunning loss to Ireland, however, was followed a day later by Woolmer's death. The former England batsman, who was Pakistan's coach, was found dead in his hotel room. Police were pursuing a murder investigation Friday after it was confirmed he had been strangled.
Three days after Woolmer's murder, former Ireland Cricket Union president Robert Kerr was found dead of a suspected heart attack police have not linked the two deaths, they have cast a cloud on what should have been a festival of cricket.
The sport has been tainted by scandals for years.
Woolmer was South Africa's coach when team captain Hansie Cronje was exposed for match fixing in the 1990s.
Cronje admitted he took up to US$100,000 from gamblers and bookmakers while on a tour of India in 1996 in return for match information he always denied fixing a game. He was banned for life in 2000 and, two years after the scandal was exposed, Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002 at age 32.
That scandal also ended the careers of former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who was banned for life along with teammate Ajay Sharma, and Pakistan batsman Salim Malik and fast bowler Ata-ur Rehman for conspiring with bookmakers to fix matches.
Fooled by match fixers
"It is still going on," said former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. "I believe Woolmer found out about what went on and was about to reveal all. Woolmer is not the first person in cricket to be fooled by these people (match fixers). Hansie Cronje died ina plane crash that has never been properly explained."
Woolmer was among South Africa officials questioned about the 1996 scandal he was never accused of match fixing. But he was reportedly writing a book which touched on corruption in cricket, and Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir said the coach was upset that the proofs had gone missing.
"Bob told me the proofs had been misplaced and he was very disturbed," Mir told reporters. "I don't know what was in the book but that was his only copy at the time."
Donald, the former South African bowler, said it was only speculation that Woolmer was killed because he might have been planning to expose match fixing.
"If that was the case, because he knew too much and was about to blow the whistle on some bookmakers, then this thing will be even more sad," he said.
Woolmer was coaching Pakistan when it was involved in ball-tampering allegations during last year's test series in England.
Australian umpire Darrell Hair accused Pakistan of breaking the rules by changing the condition of the ball during the fourth Test at the Oval. Team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq rejected the claim and refused to lead his team out for the final session. The match was declared a forfeit, the first in the 129-year history of Test cricket.
Although Inzamam was cleared by a disciplinary committee of tampering with the ball, he was banned for four games for bringing the game into disrepute.
Banned
Hair, who no-balled Sri Lanka spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing rather than bowling the ball, was accused of bias against south Asian teams. Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka said they didn't want him in charge of their games and the sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), banned him from officiating at matches involving the leading Test nations.
Pakistan then ran into a doping controversy.
Fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif tested positive last year for the banned substance nandrolone and initially were banned for two years. While their suspensions were overturned by a Pakistan Cricket Board appeals panel, that decision has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency and the ICC.
The two bowlers pulled out of the World Cup citing injuries.
Shane Warne, the world's greatest spin bowler who has taken the most Test wickets in the game, was banned for a year and had to pull out of Australia's team for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after he tested positive for a banned diuretic.
Passions run so high in India and Pakistan that cricket fans turn to rioting if their teams aren't winning. Indian fans started fires and showered the field with bottles in Calcutta at the 1996 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka, forcing the match to be abandoned.
Woolmer's 'cold' days
Saturday
Pakistan, the world number 4-ranked side, crashes out of the ICC Cricket World Cup at the group stage after losing by three wickets to minnows Ireland in their second Group D game at Sabina Park in Kingston. "I've experienced a few bad days in my life and this ranks pretty highly with ones that I have experienced," Coach Bob Woolmer says at a a post-game press conference.
Sunday
Just before midday, bad news surfaces: 58-year-old Woolmer is found unconscious in his hotel room and has been rushed to the University Hospital of the West Indies in Mona, St. Andrew.
The Gleaner arrives at the hospital just after 1 p.m. and is told that Woolmer is inside the accident and emergency section. A confidante says Woolmer did not arrive in an ambulance but rather "a diplomat van and he had police escorts".
At about 1:45 p.m., media manager P.J. Mir emerges from the accident and emergency section of the hospital. He reads from a piece of paper: "Robert Andrew Woolmer, the Pakistani team coach, has passed away today. The entire Pakistan team is saddened by his passing."
Later in the day, Mr. Mir recounts that Mr. Woolmer went to his room just after 7 p.m. Saturday. He says Mr. Woolmer was found about 10:45 a.m. The room, he says, had signs of vomitand blood and it appeared as if there was diarrhoea.
By 4:00 p.m., the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) releases a statement which says that Woolmer died at 12:14 p.m. Just after 6 p.m., Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mark Shields tells The Sunday Gleaner that like all sudden deaths, the police are treating the death of Mr. Woolmer as a homicide and will work towards proving or disproving that theory.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Colin Pinnock is put in charge of the investigations and teams from the evidence-gathering and intelligence-gathering units begin combing Woolmer's hotel room for evidence.
Woolmer's wife, Gill, is quoted as saying she received an email from him at about 3:00 a.m. that morning.
Monday
Police continue to search for clues into Mr. Woolmer's death. Flags are flown at half mast and a minute of silence is observed throughout ICC Cricket World Cup venues in honour of Woolmer.
The police announce that a port post-mortem on the body will take place the next day at the Kingston Public Hospital's morgue.
Tuesday
Government pathologist Ere Sheshiah conducts a post-mortem examination at the Kingston Public Hospital's morgue. At a 3 p.m. press conference, DCP Shields announces the findings are inconclusive and the police are awaiting toxicology and histology reports to determine the next step in the investigation.
About 9:30 p.m., Shields convenes another press conference. This time he says the police have amended their earlier position and they now believe Woolmer's death to be "suspicious".
Wednesday
A highly-placed police source tells The Gleaner that Woolmer was killed by strangulation, a report police investigators neither confirm nor deny. Our highly placed source says "a bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken and suggested that somebody might have put some pressure on it," the officer says.
Workers at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, including the chamber maid who found Mr. Woolmer, are interviewed by the police.
Pakistan win theirfirst match of the World Cup after beating Zimbabwe at Sabina Park. Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq says the victory is dedicated to Mr. Woolmer.
The Pakistan team holds a memorial service for Woolmer at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.
The JCF releases a statement late at night that they have made arrangements to get the opinion of a second pathologist.
Thursday
The police decide that there is no need for a second pathologist. The results are overwhelming and after consulting with other pathologists and experts, they make the grand announcement:
"The pathologist report states that Mr. Woolmer's death was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation. In these circumstances, the matter of Mr. Robert Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaican police as a case of murder," says a statement from Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas. Mr. Thomas' statement implies that Woolmer knew his killers.
DCP Shields says there were no signs of forced entry or robbery.
Earlier in the day, the entire 22-man Pakistan delegation is fingerprinted. Team manager Talat Ali shows the media the ink residue on his fingers and tells journalists that the Pakistan team is cooperating with the police. He insists that they are not suspects.
The Pakistan team leaves Kingston for Montego Bay where they would spend two days before their journey home via London.
DCP Shields says the police have no suspects or motive.
Police establish a 24-hour hotline in order to solve Woolmer's murder.
Malcolm Speed, CEO of the ICC, says the world Cup will go on.
Friday
Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas announces that a coroner's inquest has been ordered into the death of Bob Woolmer.
- Compiled by Daraine Luton
