RIP Bob Woolmer

Today is the fourth anniversary of Bob Woolmer's death.

I had the privilege of playing a great deal of cricket with Bob in Cape Town. Ruddy-cheeked, dashing, he was never short of a joke. Five minutes with Bob were the most memorable ever.


He played with and against the greatest the game has ever known, including the Kerry Packer Series, and dined out on those stories. He was among the greatest coaches the game has known. His books and videos line book stores and still sell. It is surreal to see him and Gary Kirsten in these media.

I was sleeping ahead of broadcasting the day he died. I got to 702 to hear he had died after Pakistan lost to Ireland. It rocked me, and to this day I miss the old bugger.

One last point: to see Bob cover drive was to see pure magic. He drove like a right-handed Graeme Pollock, and only Colin Cowdrey could compare.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/506673.html

One of the saddest of cricket anniversaries falls today. It was during the last World Cup that Bob Woolmer, the highly respected coach of Pakistan, died in mysterious circumstances in a cramped hotel bathroom in Kingston, Jamaica. The police, let alone the conspiracy theorists in the wake of a perplexing defeat by Ireland - even if they were fielding Kevin O'Brien that day - declared his death was being treated as suspicious. The tournament of 2007 never recovered.