Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer Was Murdered, Police Say (Cricket)

Source: Bloomberg

Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled to death at the World Cup, Jamaican police said.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room March 18 and was later pronounced dead at the University Hospital of the West Indies, less than a day after his team was eliminated from the World Cup in a shock defeat to Ireland.

A post-mortem showed Woolmer's death ``was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation,'' Jamaica Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields said at a news conference in Kingston, televised on Australia's Sky News. ``

``We have a lot of lines of inquiry and we will see how it develops,'' Shields said. ``We will use every energy we have to track down the killers involved.''

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aeYsLRbT88hs&refer=australia

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It wasn't official until now that it was murder, though rumours were circulating. For those who don't follow cricket (ie most here), Pakistan losing to Ireland, and thus dropping out of the World Cup (because they'd already lost to the West Indies - that loss hadn't been a shock) was like the Dallas Cowboys losing to a minor college team. The next day, Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room, and died shortly aftewards. Another link here, from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6482981.stm

Bob Woolmer was an English player, who went on to coach South Africa, and then Pakistan - so he was one of the best known people in the game. As the BBC story says, there was no sign of a forced entry, and Woolmer was quite large - this would not have been simple (unless he knew the murderer?)

Cricket has had several scandals about match fixing in the past 10 years or so; Pakistan also had 2 of its best players test positive for drugs just before the World Cup, and though at one stage it seemed they were nevertheless going to be allowed to play, they were declared medically unfit, and so didn't go to the World Cup.

I haven't followed cricket since I was 13 years old (fifty years ago!), but I strongly suspect this is going to be hugh!11!11

Evidently a pretty violent struggle.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070323/ap_on_re_as/cricket_pakistan

Source: Associated Press

Match-Fixing Eyed In Cricket Coach Death
Cricket Group Will Probe Match-Fixing As Motive
In Mysterious Slaying Of Pakistan Coach

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mar. 23, 2007

(AP) The international governing body of cricket said Friday
it would investigate whether match-fixing was a motive for the
slaying of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, who was strangled
after his team was upset by Ireland.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said police believed
more than one person may have killed Woolmer, 58, in his
12th-floor hotel room Sunday. His team's humiliating defeat
Saturday assured Pakistan's elimination from the Cricket World
Cup.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/23/ap/world/main2603342.shtml