Bye, bye Bob …

LAHORE – Pakistani players and dignitaries yesterday attended a sombre memorial service for cricket coach Bob Woolmer, whose mysterious murder at the World Cup was one of the darkest episodes in sporting history.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq led a contingent of seven players among the 400 mourners at the 100-year-old Sacred Heart Church, while officials lit candles and laid floral wreaths at a portrait of the late Englishman. Archbishop of Lahore Reverend Lawrence Saldanha said Woolmer, found strangled in his hotel room the day after Pakistan’s shock World Cup exit to Ireland, was like a “second father” to his players.”We pay tribute to his excellent qualities.He was known for his passionate interest in cricket.We salute him for his professional competency, as well as his sense of responsibility and commitment,” Saldanha said.”He was also a kind and gentle person who won the hearts of his players who looked up to him as a second father.”Inzamam, accompanied by team-mates Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, said Woolmer was an “excellent coach and above all things was an excellent human being”.”After Woolmer’s family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death,” Inzamam said.Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf remembered Woolmer as a man of simple tastes, choosing to live in a room at the National Cricket Academy rather than a five-star hotel, who developed a taste for Pakistani food and movies and understood some Urdu.”He would go to food street (a restaurant area of Lahore) and watch Pakistani movies and he once told me that ‘the boys do not know that I understand half of their jokes’,” Ashraf said.Woolmer (58) became Pakistan coach in 2004 and earned respect from many Pakistanis.His death has sparked one of the most complex murder investigations in Jamaican history.Around 50 officers are attempting to trace hundreds of potential witnesses who were either visiting or staying at Kingston’s Pegasus Hotel in the days prior to Woolmer’s death.Nampa-AFPArchbishop of Lahore Reverend Lawrence Saldanha said Woolmer, found strangled in his hotel room the day after Pakistan’s shock World Cup exit to Ireland, was like a “second father” to his players.”We pay tribute to his excellent qualities.He was known for his passionate interest in cricket.We salute him for his professional competency, as well as his sense of responsibility and commitment,” Saldanha said.”He was also a kind and gentle person who won the hearts of his players who looked up to him as a second father.”Inzamam, accompanied by team-mates Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Asif, Mohammed Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, said Woolmer was an “excellent coach and above all things was an excellent human being”.”After Woolmer’s family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death,” Inzamam said.Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf remembered Woolmer as a man of simple tastes, choosing to live in a room at the National Cricket Academy rather than a five-star hotel, who developed a taste for Pakistani food and movies and understood some Urdu.”He would go to food street (a restaurant area of Lahore) and watch Pakistani movies and he once told me that ‘the boys do not know that I understand half of their jokes’,” Ashraf said.Woolmer (58) became Pakistan coach in 2004 and earned respect from many Pakistanis.His death has sparked one of the most complex murder investigations in Jamaican history.Around 50 officers are attempting to trace hundreds of potential witnesses who were either visiting or staying at Kingston’s Pegasus Hotel in the days prior to Woolmer’s death.Nampa-AFP