Bob Woolmer found Dead!

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mehro

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World Cup, 2007

Pakistan coach Woolmer dies

Cricinfo staff

March 18, 2007



Woolmer has been Pakistan's coach since June 2004 © Getty Images



Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has died din a Kington hospital after being found unconscious in his hotel room hours after his side's elimination from the World Cup. He was 58.

Although Woolmer played 19 Tests for England, it was as an international coach he really made his mark, first with South Africa and then, after a spell as the ICC's High Performance Manager, with Pakistan.

Born in India, Woolmer made his mark in a strong Kent side in the 1970s as an allrounder, a pugnacious middle-order batsman and medium-paced seamer. Although his England career was just getting started when he joined World Series Cricket, there were already signs that his early promise was not going to be fulfilled.

More to follow

© Cricinfo




RIP
 
tell me he's not dead!!

heard he was unconscious hope he's ok....
 
he's dead .. its on the news ..
they said he was dead when he reached the hospital .. cricinfo says he was unconscious ...

RIP ..
 
World Cup, 2007

Pakistan coach Woolmer dies

Cricinfo staff

March 18, 2007



Woolmer has been Pakistan's coach since June 2004 © Getty Images



Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has died in a Kington hospital after being found unconscious in his hotel room hours after his side's elimination from the World Cup. He was 58.

Although Woolmer played 19 Tests for England, it was as an international coach he really made his mark, first with South Africa and then, after a spell as the ICC's High Performance Manager, with Pakistan.

Born in India, Woolmer made his mark in a strong Kent side in the 1970s as an allrounder, a pugnacious middle-order batsman and medium-paced seamer. Although his England career was just getting started when he joined World Series Cricket, like so many who threw their lot in with Kerry Packer, when he returned he was not the player he had been.


Called up to an England side in crisis in 1975, in only his second Test he staged a great rearguard innings to save his side when they followed on against Australia, holding out for 499 minutes against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson to score 149. Although he added two more hundreds, also against Australia, World Series Cricket checked his career in 1977, and he effectively ended it forever by joining the rebel South African tour of 1981-82.


His coaching career started at Warwickshire, and he immediately made an impact as the county won a string of trophies in the early 1990s. That led to him being appointed by South Africa in 1994.


As a coach, his pioneering use of computers to show, for example, where opposing batsmen scored their runs may have stemmed from an experience of his own, batting against Mike Brearley's Middlesex. "Knowing I liked the cover-drive, he had Mike Selvey bowling at me wide of off stump, with two slips and two gulleys. In 45 minutes, I scored 12. Then I chased another wide one from Selvey and was caught at second slip."


In the 1996 World Cup, Graeme Hick was a notable victim of Woolmer's computer-based analysis, which revealed that if Hick could be kept scoreless for a spell, he tended to flick an off-stump ball in the air to midwicket. The trap was sprung by Fanie de Villiers, and Brian McMillan took the catch. Woolmer was creative and adventurous. But his coaching was based on a simple premise: the more enjoyable he could make the game, the better his players would respond. No two fielding practices were alike when Woolmer was in charge.

After a spell as the ICC's high-performance manager, he was announced as Pakistan's new coach in June 2004, and signed a contract to remain in charge until the 2007 World Cup. However, Pakistan's form leading up to the tournament was poor, and when they lost their first two matches - the second to Ireland - it appeared unlikely that his tenure would be extended. He had been mentioned as a possible successor to Duncan Fletcher as England coach.

He made 1059 runs at 33.09 in Tests, with three hundreds, and also took four wickets at 74.75. In all first-class cricket, mainly with Kent but also in South African state cricket, he scored 15772 runs at 33.55 and took 420 wickets at 25.87.

© Cricinfo
 
i think this puts the pakistan performance in complete perspective.

sad, sad moment. condolences to his family. RIP.
 
Very sad news. He was a genuinely nice guy and that's why everyone in Pakistan loved him. It does put the game into perspective...for a few days at least.
 
That's my WC finished...

Great coach, genuinely nice guy.
 
Nothing more than he was found unconscious in the morning in his hotel room. Its very untimely as he was quite fit the evening before so I guess foul play can't be ruled out at this stage. Poor guy, whatever the causes.
 
Angry mobs call for Woolmer and Inzamam's arrest

Irate fans shocked at Pakistan's World Cup exit

Cricinfo staff

March 18, 2007



For many, the news only sunk in once the morning newspapers rolled out © Getty Images



The reactions to Pakistan's shock first-round elimination from the World Cup has, understandably, enraged passionate fans back home and drawn plenty of criticism. In a nation stunned by Pakistan's three-wicket defeat to Ireland in Jamaica, there have been angry protests, calls for arrest and even Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, hasn't been spared.

"We will ask for his [Ashraf's] resignation in the meeting which is due to take place before March 28," Senator Mohammad Enver Baig, a member of the senate standing committee on culture, sports, youth affairs and tourism told AFP. "You lost miserably to a country like Ireland. There is nothing to compensate and the chairman must resign and go back to the United States.

"The way the team has lost is the most disgraceful performance since the World Cup started. The entire nation is shocked."

Baig said Ashraf had no experience to head the PCB and that his "one-man show" management had resulted in the "shameful defeat." "He is a crony of [President] Pervez Musharraf and the way he [Musharraf] is running the country, the cricket board is also being run in same manner. It is a one-man rule everywhere."

In Multan, Inzamam-ul-Haq's home town, incensed youth held a protest rally, chanted slogans against Pakistan and demanded that police arrest the World Cup squad. The mob was heard chanting, "Death to Bob Woolmer , death to Inzamam, death to Nasim Ashraf - police should arrest them".
Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler, said the shock was "unbearable". "I am speaking with deep pain and this shock is becoming unbearable for me," he said, demanding that those responsible be fired. "The captain, coach and the entire team should be held accountable. It seemed that the umpires also wanted that Pakistan should win, but the body language of the team reflected that they wanted to lose."

The defeat was Pakistan's second after the 54-run loss to West Indies in the tournament opener. Ireland are provisionally at the top of Group D, with three points - one more than West Indies and two ahead of Zimbabwe - leaving Pakistan at the bottom of the table with no points.

_______________________________________________


People need to be reminded that in the end it's just a game.
 
RIP Woolmer!!

Great coach and pioneer of the modern era....
 
can't wait to hear Imran khan's reaction who kept telling the media woolmer was useless for pakistan,hardly did anything and should be sacked for thier poor performances....
 
RIP Bob Woolmer

i'll never forget that 149 inning back in the 70's against Thompson and Lillee, i think he was batting for almost 8 hrs!
 
As Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer was under abnormal stress

The price of passion

Dileep Premachandran in Jamaica

March 18, 2007


We were sitting down to lunch after the depressing trip to the University Hospital when a man came by and asked: "Da coach who die? He Pakistan coach now?" When we said yes, he shook his head sadly, dreads blowing in the breeze. 'Maybe he take it to heart?" he said. "Even da biggest team can lose to little team, man. It a game, and da ball round."

As you listened to him, you could only wish that fans back home in India and Pakistan were possessed of such common sense or perspective on life. On waking up in the morning and checking mail, the first thing I had seen was an AFP report from India that spoke of angry mobs attacking a house that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was constructing in Ranchi. The story also went on to speak of armed guards protecting the houses of Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virender Sehwag and others.

It was as depressing as it was predictable. Even before Bangladesh had scored the 192 runs required to defeat India at Queen's Park Oval, Cricinfo had received feedback from so-called fans who wished to burn Dravid's house. A few hours later, Pakistani "fans" were out in the streets of Multan demanding that Inzamam-ul-Haq and Bob Woolmer be arrested.

In such a climate, it should surprise no one when the pressure proves too much to take. While chatting to Greg Chappell recently, I had asked him if he'd have fancied playing cricket in this day and age and whether he thought the moderns faced as much pressure from the game as his generation had. "I'm sure they enjoy it, but it's more of a job now than it ever was," he said. "And it takes a toll on you, the relentless touring and the hectic schedules."

Chappell knows more than most about the volatile nature of the subcontinent's cricket-watching public. Recently, a deranged fan assaulted him when the team arrived for a match in Cuttack, and though he chose not to make a song and dance of it, it was clear that physical danger was far more than he'd bargained for when he took the job.

Chappell was understandably subdued when Cricinfo talked to him following Woolmer's sad demise. "It's very sad news," he said, having played against Woolmer in a few Ashes Test in the 1970s. 'It's a stressful job at the best of times. There's a great deal of emotional involvement. You have to be passionate about it if you want to do the job well."

There are many high-profile coaching jobs in sport - the Real Madrid hot-seat in football and the management of the New York Yankees to name just two, but none carries with it quite the pressure of coaching a subcontinental cricket team. Chappell is in no doubt that the stakes are far higher in South Asia than they are elsewhere. "I'd say so. It's definitely more under the spotlight than in other countries.

'The expectations are far higher. But in the light of this tragic event, I think we need to take pause and make sure that we don't get too stressed after what is after all only a game."

Enough said, though the effigy-burners will be too consumed with hatred to understand.

Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo

© Cricinfo
 
mehro said:
In Multan, Inzamam-ul-Haq's home town, incensed youth held a protest rally, chanted slogans against Pakistan and demanded that police arrest the World Cup squad. The mob was heard chanting, "Death to Bob Woolmer , death to Inzamam, death to Nasim Ashraf - police should arrest them".
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The sick Pakistani supporters have got their wish. I hope the fecking morons are thrilled.
 
Sloan said:
The sick Pakistani supporters have got their wish. I hope the fecking morons are thrilled.
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Get a grip, granted it's a spasticated way at showing disgust at their teams performance but I doubt any sane supporter wished an end like this.

The countries cricket fans are in mourning.
 
Sloan said:
The sick Pakistani supporters have got their wish. I hope the fecking morons are thrilled.
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Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar:

"He was a great cricket man. His life was devoted to cricket. He played, coached and commentated on the game all of his life."

Woolmer took over as coach of Pakistan in June 2004 and, until recently, had masterminded an upturn in the country's cricket results.

His contribution for Pakistan has been praised by the country's president Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz.

"President Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz have expressed heartfelt condolences over the tragic death of Pakistan cricket team coach Bob Woolmer," read a statement.

"In their separate messages, they said that Bob Woolmer had promoted the cause and game of cricket in Pakistan with dedication and single mindedness.

"In their messages to his family they said Bob Woolmer's services to the game will be long remembered by cricket fans."

Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar did not make the squad for the World Cup because of injury.

He added: "It is a huge tragedy. We are not ready to believe this has happened.

"I am completely shattered, and what is going to happen I don't know.

"He was a very dear man, he was a great leader and it's an unbelievable tragedy."
 
RIP...
Great coach.. one to bring technology into prime focus.. remember the WC when Cronje stepped into the park with earphones et all..
This should not happen in sports! Isnt it "just a game".. :(
 
ManUinOz said:
RIP

Now wait for the conspiracy theories to appear
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Woolmer knew too much of the Pakistani drugs coverup and was going to expose all in his new book after signing for England. :nervous:
 
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