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The conspiracy theorists are out in full force at this point.
I've heard everything from how Bob Woolmer was about to blow the lid on Hansie Cronje's murder in a plane crash, to how Pakistan were supposed to lose to the West Indies, but not to Ireland, and that lost a lot of people a lot of money. We even have claims from a New Delhi jail cell that Dawood Ibrahim commissioned the hit.
From slightly more credible sources in Jamaica, I've heard that:
- Inzamam had a massive row with Woolmer in his hotel room that morning
- An unidentified individual was seen loitering outside Woolmer's hotel room
- At least 4 known bookies have been seen around the stadia in the Caribbean in the last fortnight
- Some, but not all members of the Pakistan squad returned from Montego Bay to their hotel in Kingston, allegedly not of their own volition
The mind simply continues to boggle. In the meantime, India lived up to my expectations with a dismal performance today, one that may have Greg Chappell worried for more than just his job, given the circumstances. The Lankans were predictable and deserved winners, and at this point it's hard to look beyond them and New Zealand to join the Aussies and South Africans in the semi-finals.
Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies will all go into the Super Eights with 2 points to their name - tomorrow's clash, quite possibly a preview of the final, will determine who has to start out at the bottom of the heap alongside Ireland, Bangladesh, and England or Kenya.
Please don't email me and point out that Bermuda could beat Bangladesh and send India to the Super Eights. The only thing that would achieve would be to prove that the whole darn thing is predetermined.
I'm not going to attempt to eulogise Bob Woolmer, nor am I going to attempt to comment on the facts of the case. There are plenty of people who far better equipped than I am to do as much.
Having been travelling for a couple of days, I was going to comment on the last four matches, and particularly on the fact that New Zealand further illustrated the devaluing of the tournament in resting a few key players for their game against Canada, and still winning without trying too hard.
The cricket was of course always likely to be upstaged by the Woolmer saga, and so it has played out. I'm really at a complete loss for words on this one. I'm not sure if the sporting world has ever seen anything like it, and it's telling, and not surprising, that people at work who don't know what a cricket bat looks like have now heard the story.
Leaving aside all the obvious questions and thoughts, one can only begin to ponder the impact that Bob Woolmer's murder will have on the cricket world.
The best case scenario, if there is one, for the game is that this was the work of a deranged fan, as I suggested a few days ago. That would of course be disastrous for Pakistan's image, but the game of cricket could emerge somewhat untarnished.
Really, the other options are even more unthinkable. I'll hope and assume it isn't a player, but the work of the match-fixing mafia? The implications of that are simply that the game continues to be rife with corruption, suggesting that there is little hope of stamping it out. Not a positive thought.
I was stunned to hear this morning that Bob Woolmer had died. Even more so when I read about blood and vomit on the walls of his bathroom, and him being found mouth gaping open in a pool of vomit. It's hard to comprehend how Inzamam could be so graceless as to use a press conference just a few hours after this tragedy to announce his impending retirement from the one day arena. Talk about selfishness and a lack of class.
We may never really know what happened to Bob Woolmer. Natural causes, suicide, or the unthinkable - his life taken by a deranged fan. Either which way, the one thing that is apparent is that perhaps the game sometimes means a bit too much to some people. I don't mean to trifle with a passion or a love, but being overly vested in any one thing in life is fraught with consequence.
The cricket today took a back seat as a result. The Netherlands are doing a great job of living up to my pre-tournament expectations of a dead last finish, and it was easy pickings for the Aussies today. England will be satisfied with their 2 points, but that's about all they can take from their game with Canada. Against mediocre opposition, the English never quite asserted themselves, and while Andrew Flintoff will have recovered from his drunken revelry in time to face Kenya, a place in the Super 8 looks far from assured.
The fun really starts tomorrow. With Pakistan eliminated, Zimbabwe suddenly have everything to play for, as do the West Indies who will want to be careful not to drop points to the team that accompanies them into the Super 8 phase. In the real cracker however, India play their 2nd game in 3 days (how did that get onto the schedule?) needing to win by a lofty margin to keep their hopes alive. They should be thankful that they are taking on Bermuda, but we've already seen what happens when you get complacent.
