Reaction from Pakistan's players to the murder of their coach, Bob Woolmer, emerged yesterday as most of the team prepared to fly home to Lahore after their brief stay at a hotel near Heathrow airport. But Pakistan Cricket Board officials tried to keep players away from the media and some have taken different routes home from the World Cup in the Caribbean.
The batsman Mohammad Yousuf returned home via Dubai yesterday and the team's vice-captain, Younis Khan, remained in Dubai. "Younis Khan is already in Dubai on a private visit and some players including Azhar Mahmood, Rao Iftikhar, Shahid Afridi and Danish Kaneria might stay back for a while in London," a PCB official said.
Kaneria had been staying in the room next to Woolmer's at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, where the 58-year-old was found dead nine days ago. "I was the only player staying on the same floor as Bob," he said. "I woke up at 9.30, had breakfast at 10.0; nothing was wrong at that stage. I spoke to my family and wife, then as I was going to my friend's room I saw outside my room medical staff, my manager and police."
Kaneria said Woolmer had been visibly depressed the previous day during the shock defeat to Ireland that put Pakistan out of the World Cup. "My last conversation with him was during the Ireland game as I was the 12th man. He was feeling very depressed and down."
Younis said: "I was the closest to him in the team and we discussed everything. Being knocked out of the World Cup was a big disappointment but Bob's death is like a nightmare. We had talked about the future and he wanted me to come to work with him in his cricket academy project he had planned in Cape Town."
Rumours abound about the circumstances surrounding Woolmer's death and police are studying CCTV footage from the hotel. However, the team's spokesman, Pervez Mir, criticised the lack of communication between the police and the team management.
"We assisted in whatever way (the Jamaican police) wanted but we need an official statement from their office, to notify us officially as to what were the causes of Mr Woolmer's death, because we heard on TV that he was murdered but we've not been officially told."
Mir rejected rumours of links between Woolmer's death and match-fixing. "To divert a murder inquiry into a match-fixing inquiry, that's not fair, because we have to find the killers, then we will know what's happened."
He also dismissed suggestions of strained relations between Woolmer and Inzamam. "The relationship between the two was wonderful," he said.
The man leading the investigation, Deputy Commissioner of Jamaican police and former Scotland Yard detective Mark Shields, has refused to dismiss the idea a hitman may have been responsible.
"I rule absolutely nothing out at all. It's a possibility," Shields told Sky News.
The PCB chairman, Naseem Ashraf, said he had received an email from Woolmer in the hours before his murder confirming his retirement from international cricket. "He told me he was hanging up his boots and retiring from international coaching . . . He had some suggestions for Pakistan cricket that are valid and he has shared with the team before."
