Woolmer utterly incorruptible, says friend
Johannesburg : Slain Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer was totally and utterly incorruptible, his friend and sports scientist Tim Noakes told Woolmer's memorial service in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday.
Addressing about 300 mourners including Woolmer's wife Gill and sons Dale and Russell, Noakes said it had been suggested Woolmer was about to expose match-fixing.
However, his spoken and written record left nothing to support this theory, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.
The cricketing manual he had been working on with Woolmer did not mention the words match-fixing, Noakes said.
Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica, on March 18, a day after Pakistan was eliminated from of the World Cup by Ireland.
He was suspected to be murdered, and his body remains in Jamaica, pending a coroner's inquiry. A team of British police officers this week arrived in Jamaica to help the inquiry.
Woolmer's sudden death shocked the cricket world, and triggered wild speculations over the dark side of the sports tinted by match-fixing and underground betting.
His family had also denied any knowledge about his plan to expose any match-fixing.
Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, said the people of Pakistan would never forget Woolmer.
"I can tell you we in Pakistan loved Bob," Ashraf told the service at the Wynberg Boys High school in Cape Town, where Woolmer lived with his family.
"He truly loved the game. He lived cricket, he loved cricket and unfortunately he died for cricket," he said.
Among the mourners was the Western Cape Province's Premier Ebrahim Rasool, who said that Woolmer, when he was coach of the South African national team, had injected "the necessary pride" into the country's cricket.
He thanked Woolmer for what he had done and the Woolmer family for allowing him to do "the amazing things he has done on the world stage".
