An insanely detailed article regarding Coach Woolmer's murder has just been pointed out to me by my brother. Turns out, ESPN sent one its correspondents to the Caribbean to cover the investigation and the story is thorough, insightful and from a unique perspective.
This announcement of Woolmer's murder was official, and it bloody hurts cricket a lot. I just don't want to be associated with a sport in which people take this game so seriously, where effigies are burnt, and where lives are threatened. This was the CNN headline last night. Such an awful, indescribable turn of events...
Sports is meant to transcend boundaries and competition is meant to lift barriers between people. But cricket really needs a reality check. Commercialization and ultra-nationalism in cricket is disgusting. I even hate watching games, other than cricket, where the partisanship in the audience cheapens the entire event.
I didn't comment on this investigation before anything was official, but the worst has just recently been realized. Woolmer was murdered. And I just don't feel like blogging much about it.
First of all, I don't want to speculate on the many motives floating around, because I think its disrespectful to Woolmer. A plea to bloggers: Let the people who are investigating do their job and let us honor Woolmer for who he was. Then we can point fingers...
Plus the headlines on this investigation change every 5 minutes, since Cricinfo is becoming more like Stardust of Bollywood rather than the Time magazine of cricket. It's very disappointing how they are communicating their headlines and as a result, I am less than impressed at their journalism these days.
Secondly, official announcements from the officers leading the investigation are few and far between. So listening to Sarfraz Nawaz or the PCB or anyone else is irrelevant and stupid. These guys don't know jack shit, are just speculating like everyone else and its just adding to the mountain of gossip. So why write or talk about it?
But the murder does put a terribly big damper on my mood. Omar loves cricket a whole lot less these days, and that means my posts will be a lot more sombre than usual.
The tragic death of Coach Woolmer has absorbed me over the past 24 hours. It's hard to believe that he's gone. Even though I'd never had any contact with, I felt close to him, mainly because we could relate, in some small way, to his exuberance and expertise in cricket. Not only was he a world renowned cricket coach, but he was the coach of our national team. He was always in the news, with some opinion or the other, and was well-versed technologically. Not a week would go by, without Bob not having an opinion on something or the other. He had his own website, and would answer his questions from fans himself. He was accessible as anything, and that brought us all closer to him.
Ironically, in the end, it was his passion for the sport he loved, that brought about his end. And in no small way is this partly due to the Pakistani public, who were braying for his head after the loss to Ireland. This man personified cricket itself, but it was the ugly side of cricket: the pressures, the stress, the uncouth fans, the commercialization, traveling, and the constant badgering that disturbed him the most. Surely we can learn something from this.
tributes...
Ahmer, Zainub, Zainub again, AB, David Hopps, Osman, BC, Balachandran, Teeth, Shamik, Phoenixtra, Gamecricket, Willow and Leather, King, Amit, Caribean Cricket, JC, Atheist, Voice in Columbo, Kartikeya, Third Umpire, OBA, Taaha
What in the world! From Cricinfo...
Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has been taken to University Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, after being found unconscious in his hotel room earlier this morning.
Woolmer, 58, was discovered lying on the floor of his room, with vomit around him, at 10.45am and was taken by ambulance to hospital at 11.50am. Police also attended his room. "We have taken Bob Woolmer to the hospital and he is in the emergency ward," Pakistan team media manager Pervez Mir told AFP.
Pakistan team manager Talat Ali, their trainer Murray Stevenson and assistant manager Asad Mustafa went with Woolmer to the hospital where he was given medical attention. "We have contacted Bob Woolmer's wife in South Africa and have told her about the situation," added Mir.
Woolmer was last seen in public when he addressed the post-match media conference after his team's defeat to Ireland at Sabina Park.
At 14.30 local time, Woolmer was still unconscious.
Readers of this blog are probably aware of my bias towards Shoaib Akhtar. Anyway, while looking around for some cool commercials to post on the blog, I found this one especially amusing given that under the circumstances, its probably true. It features Woolmer as the annoyed team coach.
Ah - I'm back from sunny San Francisco. It was a welcome break away from the bitter cold. Though, upon my return, I learned that the weather this past weekend at home was actually pretty warm. Balls! Such is my luck.
What you missed
Fans and haters of omarlovescricket must visit the Bay area at some point. There is no cricket there, unfortunately, but there are plenty of wineries, even more wineries, spectacular views and great food! It's a beautiful city. Very picturesque.
Cricket stuff I missed
Upon my return, I was excited to learn that Australia have been white-washed in New Zealand. Well that's spectacular news! Always refreshing to see the great Aussies getting whipped. Naturally, Gilchrist followed up their embarrassing series loss with the expected, "We didn't really want to tour New Zealand in the first place" argument. Well, Mr. Gilchrist, boo fucking hoo!
Mathew Hayden smashed 181 runs! Bloody hell. King can't be too pleased about this. Apparently Hayden also poked fun at Inzi after his feat, which doesn't make me too happy either.
I was gone for a week, which is adequate time for a Pakistani controversy. Apparently Woolmer called Shoaib Akhtar "blacky". Sigh....
Ahmer sums it up.
Pakistan is also in the midst of dope testing all its players. The whole world awaits the results...
Michael Holding, another omarhatescricket favorite, in an undiplomatic manner, slams the associate nations playing the World Cup. Zainub at Sundries sums it up. Though I agree with Holding, I also recognize that the ICC isn't perhaps doing enough to promote the quality of cricket in these nations. I am, however, confidant that these nations will improve with time.
And last but not least, another cricketing hate list spawns. Billu.net has recently just launched a blog series discussing (or rather cursing) various characters they don't want to ever invite for dinner.
That's right! After the World Cup is over, there is no way Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer will renew his contract and stay on. He deserves a longer post of course, which will eventually be written when he actually leaves. No point jumping the gun! But with all this talk in the media about his future, with Giles and Alan Donald adding their voice, I thought I'd let my readers know that this Pakistani fan does not expect Woolmer to return.
Though I sincerely hope Pakistan tries their utmost to re-employ his services. Its impressive that in a country of ever-changing democracies, military takeovers, and no real consistency whatsoever, Woolmer is going to work through the extent of his contract.
It will be sad, as I like Woolmer a lot. He brought with him amongst other ideas, his love for allrounders, and transformed Shoaib Malik, being one example amongst many, from a off-break bowler to a one-down batsman. He loved allrounders so much, it deserves another post or two in the future.
Woolmer helped Pakistan to away test victories against India, Sri Lanka, and now South Africa. (Note: I said test victories, not series victories) Maybe the best is yet to come. Pakistan has a solid chance of beating South Africa in the third test, and two months later is Woolmer's final mission, the World Cup. Naturally he is focused on the task at hand, but with all the controversies and the ups and downs that Pakistani cricket provides, I wouldn't be surprised if Woolmer opts to go elsewhere. His role has been quite influential and no matter what, we're thankful for it.
So it turned to be a mini tribute in the end anyway...
I'm done talking about Shoaib for atleast a week so just a short post to announce that Shoaib has been fined by the PCB for his spat with Woolmer. Allegedly Woolmer had questioned Shoaib's commitment to the team. Shoaib got pissed, an argument ensued, Inzi intervened, Shoaib went home, life goes on....
There is some speculation about how the injury was staged, though I'm inclined to believe that this is not the case, and it is truly a hamstring tear. Hopefully Shoaib will up and running in time for the World Cup. From cricinfo...
Shoaib Akhtar has been fined by Pakistan's team management in South Africa for his role in a televised spat with Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, as details of what actually transpired emerge.Why is it Pakistani style you may ask? Well, we still don't know the details as usual and we will probably never know till Woolmer writes another book. The PCB have fined Shoaib, Shoaib probably doesn't care too much and will have learned no lesson. So, everything has been brushed under the carpet for now. We can just move on and forget about it, atleast till the next incident occurs, which may not be too far away in the future...
A PCB official confirmed to Cricinfo that Talat Ali, Pakistan's manager, had fined Shoaib an undisclosed amount - US$2500 according to unconfirmed reports - and the matter was likely to be investigated further. "He has been fined for that incident and we will look into the matter further. The chairman is there in South Africa so they will discuss the issue," he said.
The incident occurred on the second morning of the Test, TV cameras capturing pictures of a clearly incensed Shoaib having a heated discussion with Woolmer. Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, was seen to placate matters shortly after.
Woolmer told Cricinfo that there was an argument, but refused to go into further details about the nature of the incident. "Shoaib and I did have a disagreement. It got heated as well, which was unfortunate and maybe could have been handled better," he said.
For those amongst you who can't understand Urdu, it doesn't matter, because the compere is claiming this occured recently. However, this video was taken at a practice session in Pakistan sometime last year. I am not too sure when, but its being sent around as if this incident occurred during the South Africa tour. This can't be true because not only is the video a couple of months old, but you can see kids watching the team practice in Shalwar Kameez (the traditional dress in Pakistan). I'm guessing it was probably during England's tour.
Either way, its coach or no coach its extremely rude of Shoaib to be shoving Woolmer. I have defended Shoaib's actions in the past, and even I am losing patience. Plus, I want to get to the bottom of this latest incident between Woolmer and Shoaib that occurred on the morning of the 2nd days play against South African during the 2nd test.I'm just following up on the argument between Woolmer and Shoaib on the morning of the 2nd day of the 2nd test match against South Africa. Details are starting to emerge. From Dawn.com...
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has refused to comment on a reported exchange of hot words between paceman Shoaib Akhtar and coach Bob Woolmer prior to the start of the second day’s play of the second Test against South Africa at Port Elizabeth on Saturday.Neil Manthrop in the Sunday Telegraph believes the tiff probably has to do with Shoaib's sudden injury...
A PCB spokesman, however, confirmed that team manager Talat Ali will be holding a hearing after the day's play to find out the truth and the board will only issue a statement after that.
The spokesman added that Talat, a former Test opener, had summoned both Shoaib and Woolmer for the hearing. Leading TV channels of the country also reported the incident.
As well as the day finished for the tourists, it started horribly with a row between Shoaib and coach Bob Woolmer, once the fast bowler had ruled himself out of the rest of the Test with a hamstring strain. Fingers were pointed and chests were jabbed as Woolmer reminded Shoaib of his duty to be genuinely fit before declaring himself to be so.Well...Let's wait and see what happens.
Shoaib batted fine. Didn't seem to be in pain at all. And suddenly there is a hamstring injury? Where did that come from? The lack of information from the Pakistan camp is suspicious. Only time will tell what's going on, but it all seems a bit shady to me.
There was a dressing room argument in the morning of the 2nd day of the 2nd test match against South Africa. What was that all about? Sky Sports showed us the live feed, and it looked Shoaib was angrily 'talking' to Woolmer. Soon afterwards, they showed Inzamam trying to settle things down and a crowd of Pakistani players were hanging out. Obviously something went down today, but does it have anything to do with Shoaib not bowling anymore? Shoaib did come out and bat about a half an hour after the 'argument' after the fall of Sami. I tried to look for some telltale signs of perhaps a tiff, but he seemed to be focussed on the job at hand and was also communicating reasonably with Inzi...
I don't know...
I tried to look for the youtube video but its still too early.
More gossip ...
An NDTV exclusive suggests that there could be more to Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar's ban than just his dope test. A retired Indian Army officer attached to the Pakistani team during the Champions Trophy has told NDTV that Shoaib Akhtar had slapped coach Bob Woolmer on the team bus and also misbehaved with Indian coach Greg Chapell's wife. Hours after the incident, the Pakistan team announced that Shoaib and Mohamad Asif were being sent back home after a failed dope test. Speculation is now doing the rounds that there could be more than the doping scandal that led to Shoaib's infamous exit from the Pakistan cricket team.
'Shoaib slapped Woolmer'
Colonel Anil Kaul, who was with the Pakistani team, has said it could very well have been Shoaib's off-field antics in Jaipur that led to his exit. "These boys were listening to Hindi songs when Bob Woolmer removed the iPod and put on an English song. Shoaib got up and again changed the music, put on a Hindi song. "Woolmer kept quiet and then started making fun of the song. This was too much for Shoaib. He suddenly got up and gave Woolmer a tight slap. Everyone was stunned and quickly intervened," said Kaul.
Another brawl
That wasn't all and that same night after the team dinner, Shoaib got into a brawl at a disco after forcibly trying to dance with a girl. "The chief liaison officer went and got them out of the hotel where they were trapped. But then Shoaib went to the floor where the Indian team was staying and started banging on the doors. He accidentally banged on the door of Indian coach Greg Chappell and his wife came out, dressed in her nightclothes. "Shoaib made some comments about her. The next morning, I was having breakfast with the Pakistani team manager when Woolmer stormed in. He said even Chappell has complained about Shoaib and strict action must be taken," Kaul further said.
"This is a rubbish and baseless story, I can never think of misbehaving with my elders and this is an attempt to gain cheap publicity," he said.and again....
Why would I slap anyone? I have never argued with the coach and neither do I have any thing with Woolmer on which I would argue. There was probably an argument, a difference of opinions but never anything as serious as raising my hand on someone. There is nothing to this, these are all concocted stories. I have a very good relationship with Bob."He is concentrating his efforts more on the Nandrolone doping case. I have attached the NDTV story here. I don't have any thoughts about this. I think Shoaib has enough on his table already. Though most of these dressing rumors hold some truth to them. Shoaib slapping Woolmer certainly doesn't seem too far fetched. Bob is denying this version as well.
"The story just isn't true. I don't have an iPod and anyway it was a cellphone with music on it. I didn't have any way of changing the song. We joked about the music but at no stage did Shoaib slap me. We were just having a laugh. He was sent back because of the doping issue and nothing else."and from the NDTV 'exclusive'...
(Woolmer) did accept that there were disciplinary issues with Akhtar. "The issue is being blown out of proportion and Shoaib and I remain friends," said Woolmer.
