Bob Woolmer murder, a real life who dunnit.
26/03/07 Filed in: Sport
Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan cricket team, has been murdered and everyone in his team is a suspect. It is like an Agatha Christie novel, with plenty of motive: money from match-fixing!
The video should give you a clue about bowling (pitching) batting, and field placements in cricket - plus an insight into how massive the game of cricket is for spectators in India, Pakistan, Australia....
It isn't played in many countries, but cricket is still one of the biggest spectator sports in the world. It has a reputation for being slow, boring, arcane and a waste of a good summer's day. Maybe that is the case in genteel England, but everywhere else, fans and players have a blast, and now there is some murdering in the mix too, what more do you want?
Once played by gentlemen in England, Australia, and other low population countries like India and Pakistan, cricket was metamorphosised into a big money business by an Aussie called Kerry Packer This was back in the 1970's. Imagine the shock when the then England captain, Tony Greig, defected to play pay-per-view cricket played under floodlights by tubby guys in colored pyjamas. And a white ball. My god, the Brits were coughing up bile into their gin and tonics, thankful that Tony Greig was in fact a South African, if you went back far enough down his family tree!
Of course the concept of earning decent money from a popular sport followed by tens of millions of avid fans eventually took off. Packer and Greig sold their version of sexed-up cricket to TV around the cricketing globe, and alerted bona fide opportunists to the commercial possibilities of high profile advertising. All the banks, and bat suppliers involved made a fortune when logos were incorporated into cricketers' kit. Names were painted into the pitch, or super-imposed onto the camera to look like theywas painted onto the grass. Sunglasses and white sunblock became de facto fashion accessories, especially in Australia.
It was also shocking to some traditionalists when players started to benefit financially. Suddenly, they could command as much as twice what they were earning out of season as traveling salesmen, butchers and teachers. They gave up their day jobs and professionalism was born!
It may come as a shock to many US readers, but isn't illegal to bet in most of the Western or cricketing world. However, it is illegal to rig results. Unfortunately, the rise and rise of money in cricket alerted illegal gambling syndicates to do just that. Match-fixing reared its ugly head.
India and Pakistan were the culprits, right? Nah. It first came to light when the South African cricket god, Hanse Cronje, the equivalent of Babe Ruth, was caught fiddling results. He used to earn a fortune in kick-backs from gamblers. It is mind-blowing though how he, or anyone for that matter, can manipulate a game of cricket, and not be exposed.
Cricket is played by 22 guys, (11 a-side) and only 13 are playing together at any one time. It is played over 5 days. Every move is watched by 3 eagle-eyed 3 umpires, and umpteen TV commentators with lenses that can see the spores on the grass. They have slo-mo to die for and they analyse every move. It is inconceivable to a normal viewer how even the great bowlers can be skilled enough to pop the ball in the exact spot at the right speed so another great batter can get himself out - without anyone being suspicious. And do that 11 times to swing and win a match? Mind-blowing.
But somehow Cronje and Aussies and then Pakistanis, Indians, and Brits have all been charged and found to be manipulating games for the benefit of gamblers. Imagine if they played cricket in China, I bet they would have perfected the art and never got caught.
Whatever the process might be for staging a result, now we have a death in the cricket gambling mix! And Woolmer was quite a big name to go down amidst scandal. A mini legend in his sport, the dead coach to Pakistan was a former England player. He repeatedly scored a ton of runs against Australia, in the days when Aussies hammered every (rather than nearly every) opponent in their path. He was a clever tactician who revolutionised coaching with the use of computers. He was a nice quiet unassuming guy.
The little boy in me who used to watch Woolmer sock it to Lillee and Thomson says, please don't let it turn out that he was murdered because he was creaming gamblers' takings.
I guess as an adult with a sense that everyone should do the right thing when it comes to money, please let it be proved that he was killed because he wouldn't go down that illegal route.
I hope too that he wasn't throttled by one of his team, who to a man, didn't mumble a word of discontent when they got trounced in their last game before he died. Let's hope that after going down to Ireland, that they were shell shocked at how they got beat, despite trying their best. It would be a shame if they were quiet because they were mentally counting their winnings from smoking Joe, head of the Jamaican branch of illegal Gambling Anonymous.
Know nothing about cricket?
The video should give you a clue about bowling (pitching) batting, and field placements in cricket - plus an insight into how massive the game of cricket is for spectators in India, Pakistan, Australia....
It isn't played in many countries, but cricket is still one of the biggest spectator sports in the world. It has a reputation for being slow, boring, arcane and a waste of a good summer's day. Maybe that is the case in genteel England, but everywhere else, fans and players have a blast, and now there is some murdering in the mix too, what more do you want?
Woolmer murder most foul
I couldn't believe it when I read that Woolmer, last seen coaching Pakistan had died of a heart attack. He wasn't that old. I nearly fell off my chair when they said he had been strangled.If you follow the rise of money and gambling in cricket, you might see why he was killed.The BBC report: Woolmer was found strangled in his hotel room...
The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Dr Nasim Ashraf, said Woolmer sent him an e-mail after the defeat announcing his retirement.
Members of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit have arrived in Jamaica and are looking at the Ireland game.
Money in cricket
Once played by gentlemen in England, Australia, and other low population countries like India and Pakistan, cricket was metamorphosised into a big money business by an Aussie called Kerry Packer This was back in the 1970's. Imagine the shock when the then England captain, Tony Greig, defected to play pay-per-view cricket played under floodlights by tubby guys in colored pyjamas. And a white ball. My god, the Brits were coughing up bile into their gin and tonics, thankful that Tony Greig was in fact a South African, if you went back far enough down his family tree!
Advertising revenue in cricket
Of course the concept of earning decent money from a popular sport followed by tens of millions of avid fans eventually took off. Packer and Greig sold their version of sexed-up cricket to TV around the cricketing globe, and alerted bona fide opportunists to the commercial possibilities of high profile advertising. All the banks, and bat suppliers involved made a fortune when logos were incorporated into cricketers' kit. Names were painted into the pitch, or super-imposed onto the camera to look like theywas painted onto the grass. Sunglasses and white sunblock became de facto fashion accessories, especially in Australia.
It was also shocking to some traditionalists when players started to benefit financially. Suddenly, they could command as much as twice what they were earning out of season as traveling salesmen, butchers and teachers. They gave up their day jobs and professionalism was born!
Gambling in cricket
It may come as a shock to many US readers, but isn't illegal to bet in most of the Western or cricketing world. However, it is illegal to rig results. Unfortunately, the rise and rise of money in cricket alerted illegal gambling syndicates to do just that. Match-fixing reared its ugly head.
India and Pakistan were the culprits, right? Nah. It first came to light when the South African cricket god, Hanse Cronje, the equivalent of Babe Ruth, was caught fiddling results. He used to earn a fortune in kick-backs from gamblers. It is mind-blowing though how he, or anyone for that matter, can manipulate a game of cricket, and not be exposed.
How to match fix in cricket? No idea!
Cricket is played by 22 guys, (11 a-side) and only 13 are playing together at any one time. It is played over 5 days. Every move is watched by 3 eagle-eyed 3 umpires, and umpteen TV commentators with lenses that can see the spores on the grass. They have slo-mo to die for and they analyse every move. It is inconceivable to a normal viewer how even the great bowlers can be skilled enough to pop the ball in the exact spot at the right speed so another great batter can get himself out - without anyone being suspicious. And do that 11 times to swing and win a match? Mind-blowing.
But somehow Cronje and Aussies and then Pakistanis, Indians, and Brits have all been charged and found to be manipulating games for the benefit of gamblers. Imagine if they played cricket in China, I bet they would have perfected the art and never got caught.
Woolmer murdered for complicity or not playing along?
Whatever the process might be for staging a result, now we have a death in the cricket gambling mix! And Woolmer was quite a big name to go down amidst scandal. A mini legend in his sport, the dead coach to Pakistan was a former England player. He repeatedly scored a ton of runs against Australia, in the days when Aussies hammered every (rather than nearly every) opponent in their path. He was a clever tactician who revolutionised coaching with the use of computers. He was a nice quiet unassuming guy.
The little boy in me who used to watch Woolmer sock it to Lillee and Thomson says, please don't let it turn out that he was murdered because he was creaming gamblers' takings.
I guess as an adult with a sense that everyone should do the right thing when it comes to money, please let it be proved that he was killed because he wouldn't go down that illegal route.
I hope too that he wasn't throttled by one of his team, who to a man, didn't mumble a word of discontent when they got trounced in their last game before he died. Let's hope that after going down to Ireland, that they were shell shocked at how they got beat, despite trying their best. It would be a shame if they were quiet because they were mentally counting their winnings from smoking Joe, head of the Jamaican branch of illegal Gambling Anonymous.
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