a couple of updates ...

in the news this weekend:

bob woolmer NOT murdered

the telegraph says: "The family and friends of Bob Woolmer are "greatly relieved" after learning that detectives now believe the cricket coach died from natural causes. Following a 2½-month "murder inquiry" into their "revelations" that Mr Woolmer, 58, was poisoned and strangled during the Cricket World Cup, police in Jamaica are preparing to this week make a humiliating U-turn. A review of the case by Scotland Yard, using a Home Office pathologist, is understood to have concluded that Mr Woolmer died from heart failure and that the broken bone in his neck was caused by his subsequent heavy fall. His widow, Gill, and their two grown-up sons are understood to have cautiously welcomed the news."

no legume litigation for hugh

The actor won't be prosecuted for allegedly hurling baked beans at a photographer, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Friday. Grant, who also will not face charges for allegedly kicking the photographer, was arrested following the clash on April 24. "We have advised the police that there is insufficient evidence to charge Hugh Grant with any offense in relation to an allegation that he kicked a photographer," said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy. "This is because there were clear discrepancies between the accounts of independent witnesses and those of the photographers involved," she said. "In relation to a second allegation involving a takeaway food container, the CPS decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest."

official: it was murder

unbelievable & scary as excrement - the jamaican police have now announced that bob woolmer was murdered. read about it in the times

on the itv news tonight there were hints of speculation that this murder had to do with corruption in cricket, in particular match-fixing, and that maybe mr. woolmer had something to do with that. the bbc website presents a statement from his family here

views from other newspapers

like i said previously, is the apocalypse on its way?

woolmer latest

bit of a wobbly here - woolmer's death is now being treated as 'suspicious':

bbc sport

what does this mean? reuters reports the statement made by the jamaican police:

"Having met the pathologist, medical personnel and other investigators, there is now sufficient information to continue a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Woolmer which we are now treating as suspicious"

rumours now are going around that it may be murder. these are, however, just rumours. lawrence booth in yesterday's grauniad makes the case for stress:

"The suggestion that the stress of the job may have played a part in Woolmer's death has been supported by one of his predecessors as Pakistan coach, Richard Pybus. "I know it's the toughest job in cricket today," he said. "It's a very turbulent society and a very political environment to work in. Pakistan cricket seems to lurch from one drama to another and, as a coach, it takes a cumulative effect on you. Sometimes people can underestimate how great a toll that is. I know it took its toll on me as an individual, especially at the last World Cup.

"I think it's sad that Bob couldn't finish his work at the World Cup but all the stuff with that team wears you down.

"[Pakistan] have an amazing capacity to ambush themselves and never get into a space where it's simply plain sailing for a coach. You're always sitting there waiting for someone to lob a hand grenade and waiting for it to go off. You can never plan with such a team, because you don't even know what is happening tomorrow. I've always been sensitive to that, and I caught up with the side during their recent tour of South Africa and I could see that things were taking their toll on Bob then."

Woolmer was given an early taste of what to expect when fans back in Pakistan reacted to the team's 491-run defeat to Australia at Perth in December 2004 - his first Test in charge - by burning effigies of the new coach."

bob woolmer r.i.p.

(in his playing days)

unbelievably shocking - the pakistan coach, just a few hours after his team had been unexpectedly knocked out of the world cup, has died at the age of 58.

bob woolmer was a well-known cricketer when i first started getting into the sport, and current opinion is that while he was never world-class as a player, he became just about the best coach in the world today.

(doing what he loved best)

no reports yet as to what happened, although one piece i read mentioned that he was diabetic. therefore he could have had a heart attack, and the stress of what had just occurred on the cricket field could also have sent his blood sugar shooting up. he was found unconscious in his hotel room, and died at the hospital. it may not be cancer, but it bloody well sucks to have diabetes.


some current reports:

sporting life on yahoo
bbc sport online
the telegraph
ivo tennant in the times
the times obit
david hopps in the independent