Bob Woolmer - It's Just Not Cricket

The Official Story

On 17 March 2007 Pakistan suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of minnows Ireland, sending them crashing out of the World Cup at the first hurdle.

The loss sent shockwaves through the cricket-mad country, and heads were set to roll as fans sought a scapegoat for one of the most embarrassing failures in the nation's proud cricketing history.

For Bob Woolmer, no stranger to scandal following the ball tampering allegations which had led to his side's test match against England being abandoned the previous summer, it was his lowest ebb as a coach.

His talented but temperamental team of pampered prima donnas had failed, and he was facing the sack.
Depressed and tired he retired to his room at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica to consider his future. The next morning his body was found in the bathroom of his plush suite.

Initial post mortem results were inconclusive, and rumours began to circulate that a broken neck bone may have been discovered during Woolmer's autopsy.

On 20 March the Jamaican Police announced that the death was being treated as suspicious, despite a lack of evidence suggesting any form of break-in or forced entry to Woolmer's room. Just two days later, the Police held a press conference to tell a dumbstruck cricketing community that they were launching a murder inquiry after further tests showed the cause of death to be asphyxia by manual strangulation.

As conspiracy theories grew and Scotland Yard detectives were called in to review that case, pathologists in Britain began to reassess the post mortem evidence that led to the investigation.

By mid-May 2007 leaks emerged that cast doubt on the murder hypothesis and by early June the press both in Jamaica and Britain were reporting that the investigation was due to be wrapped up.

On June 12, less than three months after his death, the Jamaican authorities announced that Bob Woolmer had died of natural causes.The case seemingly put to bed, and the reputation of cricket forever tarnished by the bungled police investigation, attention turned away from the Caribbean as the official story that Woolmer had died a natural death was accepted.

But in November 2007, the story ignited once more as an inquest jury returned an open verdict, casting doubt on the official story and leaving open the possibility of foul play.

The Conspiracy Theory

From the moment Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas announced that a murder inquiry was underway, the Bob Woolmer conspiracy theories began in earnest.

An explosion of media speculation linked Woolmer to match-fixing allegations, painted him as a crusader against the dangerous sub-continental bookmaking syndicates, and cast the Pakistani team as supporting players in the drama.

During the next few days, the team were fingerprinted and quizzed by Jamaican detectives, but no arrests or charges were made. Controversial skipper Inzamam ul Haq, who was questioned twice by detectives, described the aftermath of Woolmer's death as "the most terrible days of our lives".

By the end of April 2007, Woolmer's story has become a global conspiracy theory, a guessing game that came to obsess the public and press alike.

According to a BBC documentary he was poisoned as well as strangled, with scientists discovering a toxin in his system that rendered him helpless. The tabloids were alive with tales of "Harry Potter" concoctions that had been used to bring down the hulking figure of the former England test match star.

But while these explanations were later rejected by independent toxicology and pathology reports compiled by British, Canadian and South African scientists, suspicions of foul play remain for many.

The idea that any of the Pakistan players were involved is palpable nonsense, and created a serious diplomatic incident as the nation reacted angrily to the treatment of its sporting heroes.

But Pakistan's performances at the 2007 World Cup were both poor and out of character.

Here was a gifted team, coached by a man regarded by many as the foremost tactical thinker in cricket, yet they were easily eliminated by inferior opposition. Against the West Indies they had been in sight of victory, only to fall away inexplicably. Surely, had match-fixing been at hand, Woolmer, had he been willing to expose it, was at risk of being killed.

The spectre of the betting scandals that tarnished the career of ex-South Africa captain Hanse Cronje rose before the game once more. That there is corruption in international cricket is tacitly acknowledged by many within the game, that it could potentially lead to murder was more than anyone could stomach.

Cricket was in pieces, and the revelation that Woolmer had been due to publish a book on his time as coach of Pakistan led to suggestions that his murder had been intended to cover up a betting scandal.

If anyone was in a position to expose the alleged corruption it was Woolmer. A staunch opponent of gambling and match fixing, he had been deeply affected by the Cronje scandal and would have fought to prevent any repeat of the mistakes that had allowed the South Africa captain to fix games while he was managing the side.

The feeling that a cover up may have been underway began to grow. And as reports emerged that the entire investigation had been bungled, and that there was in fact no poisoning and no strangulation it was all too much for some of us to believe.

Had the truth been swept under the carpet to protect the future of the World Cup and the integrity of the game?

A string of bizarre theories were proposed, but the one that took hold was simple.

Bob Woolmer knew too much about the underhand tactics and match fixing in International Cricket to be allowed to live. Whether his death was ordered by crooked bookmakers, or by officials worried that the cheating would be unearthed, he was murdered not for what his team had done, but what he had found out.

To kill a man and make it seem like he had died of natural causes would be within the capabilities and in the best interests of the shadowy sub-continental betting rings that have dogged international cricket.

Pros

- An open verdict is the inquest equivalent of a confused shrug. We still do not know how Bob Woolmer really died. We only have the Jamaican Police Force's word for it that this was death by "natural causes", but then again, we only had their word for it that there had been a murder in the first place.

- The toxicology and pathology reports remain in dispute. With so many contradictory explanations from the "experts" we are forced into a position where it is almost impossible to rely on any of the scientific evidence.

- Woolmer, coach of South Africa when the Hanse Cronje match-fixing scandal emerged, was no stranger to controversy. A man who stood strongly against the pernicious influence of ultra-rich sub-continental gambling magnates on the game, he could have become too much of a nuisance to be tolerated.

- His book could easily have been filled with embarrassing revelations about senior players, officials and crooked operators within the Pakistani cricketing establishment. But was it enough to kill for?

- The way in which Pakistan were humiliated in 2007 was deeply felt by their supporters. How could they have been so bad and could one aggrieved fan have taken the defeats so badly that he sought revenge by killing the coach?

Cons

- The crazed fan theory is utter rubbish. If Woolmer was murdered, it was by a professional, organised and ruthless killer, not a wild supporter bent on bloody revenge.

- Woolmer was not an overly healthy man. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, and had been treated for cardiac and respiratory problems. He was depressed, stressed, angry, upset and had been drinking. The idea that under this sort of pressure his heart could have given out is very persuasive.

- The initial findings of the primary post mortem have been widely discredited. Jamaican authorities have ruled out the suggestion that a broken bone in Woolmer's neck contributed to his death, with Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields saying that the bone had not even been broken in the first place.

- Despite an examination of CCTV footage from outside Woolmer's room at the Pegasus Hotel, no third party has been linked to the death in any way. There was no forced entry to his room and no forensic evidence to suggest anyone else had been in the bathroom.

- The final post mortem analysis that confirmed Woolmer had died by natural causes has been supported by independent pathologists. It is likely that the injuries he suffered were caused when he fell against his sink, and not as a result of strangulation by a third party.

Conclusion

The investigation into Bob Woolmer's demise was an utter mess from start to finish. Incomplete lab reports, incompetent police work and an incomparably idiotic decision to announce a murder inquiry before death by natural causes had been ruled out. The scandal scuppered the 2007 World Cup and led to the unfair impression that the Pakistani team had played some role in Woolmer's death.

There are still question marks hanging over the case, not least why there were so many unusual findings from supposed "experts". We've never had a proper explanation that fully covers all the facts and while that remains the case, the suspicion that someone, most likely an angry bookmaker, could have pulled off an ingenious and untraceable murder cannot be totally dismissed.

However, the evidence available at present would suggest this was a sporting tragedy, and that a coach in his prime was brought down by a weak heart, not a complicated conspiracy.....