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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Woolmer Death: A murder by the match-fixers??

******** 21st March: 1800 hrs
Just in: Mark Shields, the Jamaica Deputy Commisioner of Police has confirmed that Bob Woolmer's post-mortem report has now arrived. Without going into details, Shields confirmed that Woolmer's autopsy reports had given them enough reason to carry out a full-blow investigation into the causes of Woolmer's death. ( though at no point he used the word murder yet, something which is quite a possibility now).
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Story sent by Swapnil, source: DNA
Though the Pakistan Cricket Board insists that team coach Robert Woolmer died of a massive heart attack, it is being speculated in cricketing circles that he could have been killed to cover up match-fixing by the Pakistani team.

Former Pakistani fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz told reporters in Lahore on Monday that certain top players in the team were involved in fixing the matches against the West Indies and Ireland. Apparently certain PCB insiders told Nawaz that at least five leading bookies from Pakistan had reached the West Indies in the first week of March and were in touch with heavyweights in the team.

“The theory going around in West Indies police circles is that Woolmer might have been killed by those who wanted to silence him on the issue of match-fixing,” he claimed. A former PCB official who requested anonymity said Woolmer’s book, Discovering Cricket, which he was writing, could have exposed the cricketer-bookie nexus in Pakistan, India, and South Africa.

The official claimed that Woolmer met Delhi police officers during Pakistan’s 2005 tour of India to gather material for the book. Nawaz said Woolmer had finished more than 50 per cent of the book.

Meanwhile, Pakistan team media manager PJ Mir denied media reports that Woolmer died of a drug overdose.
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The other related story doing the rounds is that the Pakistan team will be detained in Jamaica till the investigation is completed, however other sources claim that the Jamaican police denies of any such plans.

2 comments:

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Cleaning said...

Dear Amit,
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving me a comment on my piece on Woolmer. Yes, it is a big story but it has to be based on facts and not speculation. Unfortunately, Sarfaraz is the kind who shoots his mouth off and has very low credibility. You can't simply say match-fixing on the basis of the surprising results on one day in the tournament.
Regards
Raj