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Woolmer's death reveals cricket's dark side

West Indies cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan, right, hits a boundary as Irish wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien looks on during their ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Group D match at Sabina Park Cricket Ground in Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

Bob Woolmer's murder at the cricket World Cup illustrates how far removed the sport is from the sedate image that many people associate with the game.

Modern-day cricket is plagued by doping scandals, match fixing, ball-tampering, cheating and riots. Police in Jamaica are trying to discover whether the strangling of Woolmer, the Pakistan team coach, in his hotel room was connected to the sleazy side of the sport.

Over the past 15 years, cricket has become a target for gamblers and bookmakers, especially in Asia. Big money bets have led to a series of match-rigging cases.

"There's an underground business and the bookmakers are ruining the game," said former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald, who played under Woolmer. "It seems to me that will never stop because bookmakers have such easy access to players."

On the field, players have been caught cheating -- scratching the surface of the ball or lifting the seam to make it deviate more in flight.

The first round of the World Cup in the Caribbean was supposed to be a routine succession of cricket powers easily knocking out the underdogs before moving onto the more competitive round-robin.

Pakistan's stunning loss to Ireland, however, was followed a day later by Woolmer's death. The former England batsman, who was Pakistan's coach, was found dead in his hotel room. Police were pursuing a murder investigation Friday after it was confirmed he had been strangled.

Three days after Woolmer's murder, former Ireland Cricket Union president Robert Kerr was found dead of a suspected heart attack. Although police have not linked the two deaths, they have cast a cloud on what should have been a festival of cricket.

The sport has been tainted by scandals for years.

Woolmer was South Africa's coach when captain Hansie Cronje was exposed for match fixing in the 1990s.

Cronje admitted he took up to US$100,000 from gamblers and bookmakers while on a tour of India in 1996 in return for match information, although he always denied fixing a game. He was banned for life in 2000 and, two years after the scandal was exposed, Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002 at age 32.

That scandal also ended the careers of former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who was banned for life along with teammate Ajay Sharma, and Pakistan batsman Salim Malik and fast bowler Ata-ur Rehman for conspiring with bookmakers to fix matches.

"It is still going on," said former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. "I believe Woolmer found out about what went on and was about to reveal all. Woolmer is not the first person in cricket to be fooled by these people [match fixers]. Hansie Cronje died in a plane crash that has never been properly explained."

Woolmer was among South Africa officials questioned about the 1996 scandal, although he was never accused of match fixing. But he was reportedly writing a book which touched on corruption in cricket, and Pakistan team spokesman Parvez Mir said the coach was upset that the proofs had gone missing.

"Bob told me the proofs had been misplaced and he was very disturbed." Mir told reporters. "I don't know what was in the book but that was his only copy at the time."

Donald, the former South African bowler, said it was only speculation that Woolmer was killed because he might have been planning to expose match fixing.

"If it was because he knew too much and was about to blow the whistle on some bookmakers, then this will be even more sad," he said.
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