Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer was murdered

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CNN) -- A pathology report indicated that Pakistani cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of "manual strangulation," according to a statement from Jamaican police commissioner Lucius Thomas.

"In these circumstances, the matter of Mr. Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaican police as a case of murder," the statement said Thursday night.

Police announced Tuesday that Woolmer's death was suspicious, two days after he was found unconscious in his room at the Pegasus Hotel. Woolmer, 58, was declared dead at a hospital soon after he was found. (Watch what has emerged as a possible motive in Woolmer's murder Video)

Initial media reports indicated he died of a heart attack.

Woolmer's death came less than 24 hours after former world champion Pakistan was beaten and eliminated by the relatively unknown Irish team on St. Patrick's Day, one of the biggest shocks in World Cup cricket history. The loss on Saturday prompted outrage among the team's hardcore fans, with protesters burning effigies of Woolmer and the team captain in Karachi.

Asked about suspects, Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields would only say, "We have a few definite lines of inquiry," acknowledging later that betting on cricket matches was among them.

Shields urged people with any information about the case to come forward.

"It's a very busy hotel," he said. "I'm absolutely certain that someone saw something that could help us in this investigation."

Blood, vomit and diarrhea were splattered over the walls and floor of Woolmer's hotel bathroom, said Pakistan's team spokesman Pervez Mir Wednesday afternoon. (Watch Mir describe what he saw Video)

Police refused to comment on that report.

Earlier on Thursday, police fingerprinted all members of the Pakistani cricket team at the hotel, and they were to submit statements to police as part of the ongoing investigation, Mir said.

"It is standard procedure," Mir added. "Each of them will come along and give a written statement."

The players' hotel rooms were on the same floor as Woolmer's.

The team has been cleared to leave Kingston, and there was no reason to detain anyone, a Jamaican official said Thursday.

The team left the hotel secretly and was believed to be flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica, for two days' rest before returning to Pakistan.

Woolmer, who was English, played Test cricket for England in the mid-1970s. He later turned to coaching and coached the South African national team before taking over as Pakistan's coach in 2004.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas...eath/index.html

[ajames79 0]

whoa

[Robor007 0]

Reminds me of THIS

I'm a sports fan and I wish the egomaniac joke that is Jon Gruden wasn't coaching our local NFL team but I can't fathom thinking the solution is murder. ####### is wrong with these people taking sports to this extreme?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Reminds me of THIS

I'm a sports fan and I wish the egomaniac joke that is Jon Gruden wasn't coaching our local NFL team but I can't fathom thinking the solution is murder. ####### is wrong with these people taking sports to this extreme?

I remember that. It's just a game people!!

[Peikko 1,575]

If I remember rightly there have been scandals in the past relating to cricket and betting. I believe Pakistan was involved the last time this came up. It's not the sport that's the problem, but the money surrounding the illegal betting I think.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Reminds me of THIS

I'm a sports fan and I wish the egomaniac joke that is Jon Gruden wasn't coaching our local NFL team but I can't fathom thinking the solution is murder. ####### is wrong with these people taking sports to this extreme?

I remember that. It's just a game people!!

You will have a difficult time convincing (a good percentage of) Americans that "football" is only a game.

(and, unfortunately, it is likewise for Sub-continentals and cricket. I worked for a pizza delivery place run by a Lahorite in 2003. The day after a match defeat of Pakistan by India, the manager was trying--unsuccessfully, as even the non-Sub-continental American employees could easily detect something was wrong--to present a calm facade; I gave them the plausible sounding "his team lost a match" answer. India-born employees, including myself, could see the thick cloud of fumes rising.

Ironically, another employee, born in Mumbai, had caused this by commenting about the game immediately after the results--the night before).

[almaty 19]

whoa..........damn

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Reminds me of THIS

I'm a sports fan and I wish the egomaniac joke that is Jon Gruden wasn't coaching our local NFL team but I can't fathom thinking the solution is murder. ####### is wrong with these people taking sports to this extreme?

I remember that. It's just a game people!!

You will have a difficult time convincing (a good percentage of) Americans that "football" is only a game.

(and, unfortunately, it is likewise for Sub-continentals and cricket. I worked for a pizza delivery place run by a Lahorite in 2003. The day after a match defeat of Pakistan by India, the manager was trying--unsuccessfully, as even the non-Sub-continental American employees could easily detect something was wrong--to present a calm facade; I gave them the plausible sounding "his team lost a match" answer. India-born employees, including myself, could see the thick cloud of fumes rising.

Ironically, another employee, born in Mumbai, had caused this by commenting about the game immediately after the results--the night before).

I'm American and not a big sports fan. I like the Discovery and History channel.

[Mirorgate 0]

Paintball! Legally hunt humans and shoot them. More than once

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

India lost to Sri Lanka today and has exited the World Cup. Once the Indian players reach India, they are going to have a very unpleasant welcome home. Hope no one dies.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The suspicion that Bob Woolmer was killed by the betting mafia intensified today with the Pakistan coach’s own words cited to suggest he was about to blow the whistle on match-fixing.

The revelation about the email by Woolmer came hours after police sources said he was poisoned before being strangled by someone he probably knew.

Taking the cue, the International Cricket Council announced a probe into whether match-fixing was the motive behind the murder and summoned its top corruption sleuth to Jamaica.

Woolmer had sent the email to senior Pakistani journalist Osman Samiuddin, seeking his help to write a book “so that I can cover probably one of the more interesting periods of my cricket career”.

“I shall only start after the World Cup.… I believe, regardless of the money, the story is worth telling, has to be told and in the correct way. I am not a name and shame guy, just the honest facts. Let the punter make up his mind etc,” the email, sent on September 18 last year, said.

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, which published the email this morning, didn’t name Samiuddin, saying the recipient was fearful for his safety.

But Samiuddin, Pakistan editor of cricinfo.com, told Associated Press later in the day that it was he who had received the email.

Although the mafia theory has focused mostly on a possible tell-all book Woolmer was writing, some have also suggested that the Pakistan-Ireland World Cup match may have been fixed, sparking a quarrel between the coach and someone he suspected.

The police are looking into this. A source said Woolmer had been distressed after being told by a friend about suspicious movements in Mumbai’s betting markets a month before the Ireland game.

A former player today added his bit to the speculation suggesting both Woolmer and Hansie Cronje — the South African captain banned for rigging matches — were killed to stop them from spilling the beans about the betting racket.

Former South Africa player Clive Rice said that when news of the match-fixing scandal broke seven years ago, he was coaching Nottinghamshire while Woolmer was in charge of Warwickshire.

“We were actually involved in a match in England at the time and Bob and I discussed it. He told me a lot that never came out…. I’m not just talking about other players being involved, but officials too,” Rice said.

“Bob knew a lot of what went on during the match-fixing scandal in which Cronje was nailed.”

Rice said Cronje, who died when a chartered plane crashed five years ago, too, was planning a book and that he had acquired the rights for it.

“I went to see him six months before he died. He signed over the rights to me. Like Woolmer, he knew a lot more of what was going on. His so-called accident was just a lot cleverer than the one that killed Bob.”

Police said food or alcohol delivered to Woolmer’s hotel room might have been poisoned to incapacitate the burly, 6-foot-one-inch man before he was killed but denied any arrests had been made. Officers have been scouring closed-circuit TV footage and other electronic records from the hotel.

All hotel guests, along with the 22 members of the Pakistan team, were swabbed for DNA samples yesterday.

Team manager Pervez Mir denied a claim by a local channel, TV Jamaica, that police had asked two (unnamed) players to stay back in the Caribbean country till the inquest was over. Mir insisted that all the players would leave Jamaica later today.

“There are no restrictions on our travelling,” team member Shahid Afridi told reporters. “Inzamam-ul Haq and others are fine.”

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the organisation’s anti-corruption unit (ACU) would investigate if match-fixing had a role in the death. “If there is a link, we want to know about it and we will deal with it.”

ACU chief investigator Jeff Rees has been told to join the probe and the head of the unit, former London Metropolitan Police boss Paul Condon, has been asked to be on stand-by to fly to Jamaica.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070325/asp/...ory_7563416.asp

[GrenadianCrix 1]

It should be interesting how the rest of the World Cup shapes up. in about 20 days the super 8 games will begin. I live in Grenada right now and it's pretty shaky to have it here to begin with. Grenada still hasn't finished putting up bridges on major thru-ways. There better be some resolution to this soon or else there will be some major problems on these little islands.

I wonder what will happen to the Ireland team if there is match fixing found?

The West Indies team won the match yesterday against them...we'll have to see how it all works out.

It's crazy that sports become so high stakes that people are willing to kill for them.

Sue

[Peikko 1,575]

Seems the illegal betting might be at the bottom of this after all...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Seems the illegal betting might be at the bottom of this after all...

I don't know. Seems like an "easy" explanation.

[Peikko 1,575]

An 'easy' option? I don't get it. Motive is important in murder. Money is normally a great motive.