'Why Does Anything Happen?'

Sun, Mar 18, '07

 

by MICHELLE McDONALD

When greeted with what was then a rumour that Bob Woolmer was dead, and asked to try to get some official confirmation, I never imagined that "dead" meant "expired".

Instead, I assumed "dead" meant that the Pakistan Cricket Board had not waited until the team's return to Pakistan but rather had terminated his contract immediately, even though Pakistan has one more match to play in the World Cup, after which his contract was to end.

What a sad turn of events that has now cast a pall of gloom over what had so far been an exciting and interesting Cricket World Cup 2007. I had never met Mr Woolmer before attending a Pakistan press conference at Kensington Park on the eve of their clash with the West Indies. My first impression of him was that he humoured no one, judging from the somewhat sarcastic and off-hand manner in which he answered seemingly silly questions from some journalists, the answers to which he obviously could not offer.

After Ireland handed Pakistan a convincing defeat on Saturday, the Pakistani journalists were obviously angry. The first question posed to Bob Woolmer at the post-match press conference by one was "what happened?" Woolmer's response was very curt. "Bad batting," he said tersely, explaining that they needed to have scored at least 60 more runs. That was followed up by the question "why did that happen?" Woolmer was in no mood to be diplomatic with his response. "Why does anything happen?" he replied.

He continued to be hounded by questions about the pitch and the batting, and he eventually told the journalists that he could not answer their questions because he was not out there batting, and suggested that the question be directed to the captain.

Calling the loss one of the "few bad days of cricket" in his life, Pakistan's coach eventually apologized for the loss. "We are sorry that we performed like we have. We didn't mean to do it," said a subdued Woolmer.

Without trying to use it as an excuse, the coach had said that losing the toss was crucial. "The pitch was grassy, it was soft at the beginning of the game; it wasn't hard and dry like it was for the first game against the West Indies, therefore the ball was going to do something in the morning. The toss was important. That is not an excuse. The players did not bat very well," Pakistan's coach said.

In acknowledging Ireland's remarkable achievement, Woolmer also spoke highly about the success of the ICC's High Performance Programme which he was involved with before becoming Pakistan's coach in 2004. "The funding for the High Performance Programme has been increased tremendously and has allowed the High Performance sides to have expert coaching, and a lot more cricket than they did for the 2003 World Cup, therefore I am not going to say they are going to close the gap. I think on this particular occasion, there were extenuating circumstances," Woolmer said before he went on to speak about the pitch.

He said "I think it was a tough pitch. It was a pitch that evened out the sides a little bit today, and winning the toss was an important factor but saying that, Ireland, although they've got a steady seam attack and they bowled well and they fielded well, we should have scored 190 – 200 runs against that attack. It's a simple equation. We didn't do it."

Throughout the press conference, he kept stressing that cricket is a game and these things unfortunately happen sometimes. "I think it's important that I remember that this is a game and in the game, things like this happen," he commented.

He was asked on more than one occasion what he anticipated would happen when the team got back to Pakistan. "What happens after [we return to Pakistan] will be decided by other gentlemen, not us," said Woolmer while hinting that he may give up coaching at the international level.

"As for my future as a coach, it's what I do best, it's what I try and do best and I am not going to throw away coaching just like that, however, internationally I will give it some thought. Travelling and being involved and being in hotels non-stop takes its toll. When we get back, reception wise I doubt it will be very good," Woolmer had said.

I did not ask any questions of the coach or captain. Instead, I was taken up with assessing the emotions in the room. As mentioned before, the Pakistani journalists were not very pleased, as one could expect. They wanted answers. The captain was his usual soft spoken self, perhaps this time with less words.

Bob Woolmer fielded much of the questioning, answering with his drawling English accent where the words seem to run into each other without clear distinction between each. His tone was even, and he never raised his voice even though the words he used suggested that he thought some of the questions asked were rhetorical and nonsensical.

His face looked drawn and contemplative, red obviously from the sun, but caused perhaps too from the embarrassment of the defeat.

His message in that, his final press conference, seemed to be that the loss, although devastating, should not be taken to heart. It's only a game of cricket, and these things happen. With investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death continuing, I can only speculate that Bob Woolmer may not have heeded his own advice, taking the stress of the loss and the impending backlash to heart.

The organizers will no doubt plan a fitting way, first at Monday's matches, to recognize a gentleman who made a significant contribution to world cricket. In all the planning leading up to this event, who would ever have thought that this would be one of their tasks? This Cricket World Cup will not be the same after this very very sad news.

Bob Woolmer, may your soul rest in peace.