‘If ever a youngster could have been said to eat, drink and sleep cricket, then surely it was Bob Woolmer.’ Wisden 1976 - Bob Woolmer, Cricketer of the Year.
This was then. What we have today is a man whose passion for cricket may have taken his life. Robert Andrew Woolmer died of a massive heart attack on March 18 2007 at the University Hospital in Kingston. He was born on May 14, 1948 in Kanpur India, played 19 tests and 6 ODI’s for England and was coach of the Pakistan cricket during the 2007 World Cup.
It is undoubtedly a very sad time for Pakistan cricket. We were all depressed and disgusted when we witnessed them crash out of the World Cup yesterday, but today I am shocked beyond belief that one of the best coaches in the world is no more with us. Also, he might not have been a great cricketer, but good enough to be Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1976. However, for Woolmer, it seemed what matter most was to be associated with cricket in one way or another and he tackled all kinds of problems with the Pakistan team to turn them into a unit.
Woolmer’s relationship with cricket was very old. I quote again from the 1976 Wisden article:
Robert Andrew Woolmer can truthfully be said to have been associated with cricket from the cradle. For when his proud parents returned home with their new baby, his father placed a cricket ball and a bat in one corner of the cot, saying: “Son, I hope this will be your life.”
And it was.
One would have thought that a man who spent his entire life playing, watching, analysing, teaching and loving cricket would have seen it all. I guess not.
I strongly support all those who have suggested that Bob should be conferred some sort of civic award for his services to our country. Many of us crticised his moves or decisions, but that was only because his work in the public domain allowed people’s opinions to be taken into account. Over the years Pakistanis had developed a liking for Bob Woolmer and he will be greatly missed. Today, all who knew him have called him an honest, friendly and good-natured man. I only saw him on television and that is exactly how I perceived him to be.
Urban legend has it that equestrian statues contain a code whereby the rider’s fate can be determined by noting how many hooves the horse has raised. The most common theory has it that if one hoof is raised, the rider was wounded in battle (possibly dying of those wounds later but not necessarily so); two raised hooves, death in battle; all four hooves on the ground, the rider survived all battles unharmed and died of natural causes.
In a country like Pakistan we don’t usually build statues of people, but if an equestrian statue was to be built in Bob’s memory it would be of him on a horse with two raised hooves. As coach he was our General, the cricket ground was his battlefield and the wounds were being inflicted on him for quite some time now, however, yesterday proved to be the final blow.
It is unfortunate that our team may have been responsible for those wounds, but noone is to blame. After all, it is only a game. For Bob, though, it was life. And I stand in awe of the man and his passion for the sport of Cricket.
P.S Inzamam has announced his retirement from one day cricket. One can only imagine what the team, and in particular Inzamam, must be going through at this time. If we’re feeling such sadness on Bob’s demise then there must be no limit to their grief.
Links:
Woolmer’s website: www.bobwoolmer.com
Cricinfo links: 1, 2, 3, Kamran Abbasi on Cricinfo, Osman Samiuddin pays tribute
Listen to Michael Holding, Tony Greig, John Wright, Rameez Raja and Ian Chappell pay their respects to Bob Woolmer
GEO Interview of Shoaib, Junaid Jamshed, Hanif Mohammad about Woolmer’s death
Tribute to Bob Woolmer
