Gill Woolmer, wife of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer who
died in Jamaica on Sunday, said yesterday she had not ruled out the
possibility that her husband had been murdered.
Jamaican police said on Tuesday that the 58-year-old's death was
being treated as "suspicious".
Former England batsman Woolmer was found unconscious in his
Kingston hotel room less than 24 hours after Pakistan's shock World
Cup defeat by Ireland which knocked them out of the tournament. He
was pronounced dead in hospital later that day.
"I suppose there is always the possibility, I mean some of the
cricket fraternity fans are extremely volatile and passionate about
the game and about what happens in the game... so I suppose there
is always the possibility that it could be that (murder)," she said
in an interview with Sky Sports.
"It fills me with horror. I just can't believe that people would
behave like that or that anyone would want to harm someone who has
done such a great service to international cricket."
A statement from Jamaican police on Wednesday said that a second
pathologist's opinion was being sought.
"Following consultations today involving representatives from
the government of Jamaica and the police, a decision was taken to
seek the opinion of a second pathologist," police spokesman Karl
Angell said in the statement.
"Arrangements are currently being made to engage the services of
this pathologist."
Gill Woolmer said in the Sky interview her husband was
"depressed" after Pakistan's defeat but ruled out suicide, adding
that he was fit and had been trying to lose weight because of
diabetes.
"He was very depressed and he sent me an email to that effect,
but he always got depressed and down when the boys didn't do as he
expected and hoped," she said.
"But that was normal in any competition, he was a very
competitive person. But there's no way that suicide was involved,
he would never ever..."
Conspiracy theories have abounded since Woolmer's death, with
claims in some media that he had been murdered by a match-fixing
syndicate.
Tearful farewell
Inzamam-ul-Haq ended his tenure as captain with a tearful
farewell in Pakistan's emotional final match at the World Cup.
The 37-year-old contributed a fluent 37 off 35 balls as his side
honored the memory of Woolmer with a convincing 93-run victory over
Zimbabwe.
Inzamam, one of only four players in the tournament to have
played every World Cup since 1992, left the field in tears after
being given a guard of honor by his teammates.
"First of all, thanks to Bob, we dedicate this to Bob because he
was a wonderful person, an elder for us and he's not in this world
now," the well-respected Inzamam said, again choking back
tears.
The right-handed batsman notched 11,739 runs at an average of
39.52 in 378 one-dayers, behind only India's Sachin Tendulkar.
(China Daily via Agencies?March 23, 2007)