The sudden death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer overshadowed everything at the cricket World Cup on Sunday.
The 58-year-old Englishman died in a Jamaican hospital after being found unconscious in his hotel room the morning after Pakistan were humbled by Ireland and slumped out of contention for the World Cup.
Inzamam-ul-Haq later quit as Pakistan captain and from limited-overs cricket, effective after the World Cup.
PHOTO: AFP
Woolmer's death took the edge off angry protests in Pakistan, where the demise of the 1992 World Cup champions is keenly felt, and prompted a flood of condolence messages from around the world.
Inzamam said he never got the chance to properly discuss his future with Woolmer, and was shocked and saddened by his coach's passing.
No cause of death has been released.
The former test batsmen was a diabetic and Pakistan officials said he had complained of breathing difficulties before leaving for the World Cup in the Caribbean.
Tributes flowed in from all over the world for Woolmer.
West Indies captain Brian Lara knew the former England Test batsmen well.
He was enticed to Warwickshire when Woolmer was in charge, and that's where he scored his world record 501 not out in 1994.
"He was a very focused man with a great love for the game but what shone through was the great love he had for players under his charge, everyone meant something to him," Lara said.
Woolmer coached South Africa for five years until 1999 and spent time in charge of an International Cricket Council program for the development of the game in non-Test nations before taking the Pakistan job in 2004.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Pakistan Cricket Board are jointly working on a special tribute to Woolmer.
Both organizations were waiting until Woolmer's family arrived in Jamaica to make arrangements, and Jamaica police said a post morten would be conducted as quickly as possible.
"It is difficult to think of a man who was more committed to the betterment of the sport than him," ICC president Percy Sonn said.
"From an ICC perspective, we owe Bob a huge debt of thanks as he played a pivotal role in the development of cricket," Sonn said.
"He was a tremendous all-rounder for Kent and for England and magnificent cricket coach," said retired Test umpire Harold "Dickie" Bird, who became a close friend.
"Bob was respected worldwide. He developed into the finest cricket coach in the world."
England beat Canada
England beat Canada by 51-runs in their World Cup Group C match in St.Lucia on Sunday.
England made 279 for six after being sent in but, despite reducing Canada to 65 for four, were unable to bowl out the minnows.
They were held up first by a fifth-wicket stand of 96 between Abdool Samad (36) and Ashif Mulla (58), who hit all-rounder Paul Collingwood for a six over the roof of the stand at deep mid-wicket.
Although both batsmen fell within the space of four balls, with the score on 161, Canada finished on 228 for seven -- their best total at the World Cup in 11 matches after they'd made 202 against the West Indies at Centurion in 2003.
It was also 29 more than the 199 they managed four days ago in their seven-wicket opening Group C match thrashing by Kenya.
England had Canada in trouble at 22 for two after Liam Plunkett removed Geoff Barnett and Ashish Bagai.
Canada skipper John Davison, back in the opening slot where he made the fastest World Cup hundred, off 67 balls against the West Indies, at Centurion four years ago, made 21 off 25 balls before lofting James Anderson to Ian Bell on the cover boundary.
Monty Panesar took one for 35 from 10 overs but Samad and Mulla were largely untrouble by the remainder of England's attack.
Samad was eventually lbw to Panesar before Mulla's 60-ball innings with one six and seven fours ended when he was stumped by wicket-keeper Paul Nixon off medium-pacer Ravi Bopara.
England's Ed Joyce top-scored with 66 while Paul Collingwood finished on 62 not out off 48 balls with one six and four fours.
Former Guyana left-armer spinner Sunil Dhaniram, now a fork-lift truck driver, took three wickets for seven runs in 11 balls as England declined from 153 for one to 161 for four.
However, a fifth wicket stand of 81 between Collingwood and Bopara, who made 29 on his World Cup debut and in only his second match at this level, revived England's innings.
Nixon added late impetus with a dynamic 23 not out off just eight balls including a straight six off the last ball of the innings from former West Indies fast bowler Anderson Cummins.
Dhaniram, 38, removed Ian Bell (28), Joyce and dangerman Kevin Pietersen (five) on his way to figures of three for 41 from his full 10 overs.
Aussies thrash Dutch
Brad Hodge hit a maiden one-day hundred and Michael Clarke scored an unbeaten half-century to help Australia achieve a thumping 229-run World Cup win over Netherlands on Sunday.
Australian middle-order batsman Hodge scored 123 and shared an invaluable 204-run fourth wicket stand with Michael Clarke (93 not out) to help Australia reach 358-5 after electing to bat.
The Netherlands were then unable to cope with the Australian bowling attack and were dismissed for 129 in 26.5 overs. Dan van Bunge topscored with 33, while Darron Reekers (25) and Peter Borren (24) were other notable scorers.
Left-arm spinner Brad Hogg was the pick of Australian bowlers with 4-27.
Paceman Glenn McGrath finished with 2-33, to complete fifty wickets in the World Cup.
The 37-year-old paceman now need another six wickets to overhaul Pakistani Wasim Akram's World Cup best of 55.
Left-arm paceman Nathan Bracken finished with 2-33 to seal an emphatic win for Australia.
Australia owed their total to Hodge who was finally dismissed by Peter Borren.
He hit eight boundaries and seven sixes during his enterprising 89-ball knock.
Clarke missed his hundred by seven runs, hitting six boundaries and three towering sixes during his 85-ball knock.
Australia looked to be in a bit of bother for a brief spell when they lost opener Matthew Hayden (29), Adam Gilchrist (57) and skipper Ricky Ponting (23) to be at 116-3 in the 21st over.
The Dutch attack bowled a better line and length than they did against South Africa who piled up 353-3 in 40 overs on Friday.
But their fielding left a lot to be desired as they dropped two chances off Hodge and two off Clarke, to allow the pair to score 130 runs in the final 10 overs.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
RSS