Shields reads Woolmer’s final email

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Bob Woolmer was a “little depressed” following his team’s exit from the World Cup and he was looking forward to going home, according to an email that may have been his final words before his death in Kingston, Jamaica last March.

The email, which was sent to his wife, Gill, was read to jurors at the inquest into Woolmer’s death.

“Hi, darling, feeling a little depressed currently as you might imagine,”

the message started.

“I am not sure which is worse, being knocked out in the semifinal at Edgbaston or now in the first round. Our batting performance was abysmal and my worse fears were realised ... I could tell the players were for some reason not able to fire themselves up,”

it added.

He went on to say that he was glad not to have to travel to Guyana and was looking forward to seeing his family again.

“I hope your day was better but I doubt it as you were probably watching ... not much more to add I am afraid but I still love you lots.”

Mark Shields, Jamaica’s deputy police commissioner who was at the heart of the investigation, read the email to jurors. He is among the final witnesses in the inquest which is expected to finish this week.

The fifth week of the inquest got off to a bizarre start when a subpoenaed witness failed to turn up. David Wong Ken, a local DJ who claimed to have evidence about Woolmer’s death, failed to appear under instruction from his lawyer.

Pakistan players refuse to testify

KINGSTON, Jamaica: One of Jamaica’s top police officers has said that four members of the Pakistan cricket team have declined to testify at the inquest into the death of their former coach Bob Woolmer.

Mark Shields, Jamaica’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, told Coroner Patrick Murphy on Wednesday that former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq was among those that refused to give testimony.

Apart from Inzamam, who had recently retired from international cricket, along with medium-pacer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, assistant manager Asad Mustafa and former media manager Pervez Mir refused to travel to Jamaica for the inquest, which began on October 16.

Shields, who made the requests through the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), told Coroner Murphy and the 11 jurors that both players said they were unable to make it.

“Mustafa said he has already given a statement to the police,”

Shields added.

“I spoke to Sattar at 5:50 am on Wednesday and he said he was involved in a car accident in May and has not worked since. He said it would be huge inconvenience for him to attend,”

said Shields. Woolmer died hours after he was found unconscious in his Jamaica hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan suffered a humiliated defeat to Ireland at the World Cup of cricket.

‘Woolmer was planning to retire’

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Bob Woolmer was planning to retire from international cricket after the World Cup, Murray Stevenson, the Pakistan team’s former fitness trainer, told the inquest into the former Pakistan coach’s death.

Stevenson said Woolmer had told him minutes after Pakistan’s loss to Ireland on March 17 — which led to Pakistan’s elimination from the tournament — the match against Zimbabwe would be his last.

“He told me he had two bottles of champagne in his room at the hotel and we would drink it on Wednesday when the team played Zimbabwe, because it would be his last game in international cricket,”

Stevenson was quoted in the Jamaica Gleaner.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room the next day and was declared dead after being taken to the hospital.

Stevenson indicated Woolmer was apprehensive of returning to Pakistan after the loss to Ireland and that he overheard him talking to Asad Mustafa, the Pakistan team’s operations manager.

‘Woolmer was poisoned and strangled’

KINGSTON: The pathologist who performed a controversial autopsy on former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer said on Wednesday that the Englishman was poisoned and then strangled.

Dr Ere Shesiah, chief consultant pathologist of the Jamaican government, told an inquest that Woolmer

“died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation associated with Cypermethrinide poisoning”.

Cypermethrin is a pesticide used frequently in countries including the United Kingdom, China, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, said Shesiah, who had never before publicly linked Woolmer’s death to poisoning.

Woolmer, 58, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan were knocked out of the cricket World Cup following an upset loss to Ireland. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after.

Police started a murder investigation days later after it was revealed that the autopsy, which investigators said was inconclusive at first, found that he died of manual strangulation.

That investigation ended on June 12 when Jamaica’s police commissioner said the constabulary would accept the opinion of three independent pathologists that Woolmer had died of natural causes, possibly a heart attack. Shesiah, an Indian national who has made Jamaica his home for more than 15 years, said that he never told police that the autopsy was inconclusive.

“At no time did I use the word inconclusive in any of my deliberations with the police,”

Shesiah said under cross examination by Jamaica’s director of public prosecutions Kent Pantry.

“I told the police at the time that the autopsy was pending. I also never used the word suspicious, which the police used early in their investigations,”

Shesiah said.

Shesiah said that when the murder investigation was called off on June 12 he had still not received the toxicology report.

“I received a faxed copy of the toxicology report on June 21, and the report concluded that a poisonous toxin was found in Mr Woolmer’s stomach,”

Shesiah said.

“I stand by my findings that Mr Woolmer was strangled and, based upon additional information which I received, he was also poisoned,”

Shesiah said.

Shesiah’s technique has been criticised by international pathologists who have testified at the inquest but he remained defiant, saying he had applied the correct methods in carrying out the post mortem.

Shesiah, who suffered a stroke three weeks ago, will be in the witness box again as the inquest led by coroner Patrick Murphy entered its eighth day on Thursday.

Pathologist tells Woolmer inquest cause of death uncertain

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Canadian pathologist Michael Pollanen told the inquest into the death of Bob Woolmer that he couldn’t determine the cause of death of the Pakistan cricket coach who died during the World Cup in March.

Pollanen testified on Monday that Woolmer wasn’t strangled, as police initially suggested.

Under cross-examination by Director of Prosecutions Kent Pantry, Pollanen said that he understood a foreign substance was detected in Woolmer’s body.

Questioned by Pantry as to whether he was informed that poison was detected in Woolmer’s body, Pollanen said:

“I was aware that there was a positive toxicology finding relating to Woolmer’s death.”

Pressed to explain the foreign substance and about his knowledge of a toxin called cypermethrin, Pollanen responded by saying

“it is a form of insecticide or herbicide.”

Pollanen said he couldn’t state the symptoms that cypermethrin would induce in a person, but he did say

“it could weaken the body movement"

Pollanen also told coroner Patrick Murphy and the 11-member jury that he was not presented with a copy of the toxicology report, which made it impossible for him to determine the cause of death.

Pollanen said that in his opinion strangulation wasn’t indicated as the cause of death.

“If the hyoid bone (in the neck) was broken, it would be a good evidence of injury to the neck,” he said. “It was not broken in this case.”

Jamaican government pathologist Ere Sheshiah had said Woolmer died of manual strangulation - a conclusion that rocked the cricket world as Jamaican authorities said they were treating his death as murder.

The former 58-year-old former England international was found unconscious in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on March 18, a day after Pakistan made a shock exit from the cricket World Cup, losing to minnows Ireland.

When authorities said the death was suspicious, it prompted speculation that it might somehow be linked to match-fixing in international cricket.

In June, Jamaican police said further investigation showed Woolmer died of natural causes.

“In my view there is no foundation of physical attack or pressure on the neck,”

Pollanen testified.

Pollanen said Sheshiah failed to follow proper procedures when he examined Woolmer’s neck.

“Base on the evidence, I would exclude strangulation as the cause of death,”

he said.

He added, however, that the hyoid bone doesn’t have to be fractured for strangulation to take place.

When asked if he would entirely rule out strangulation, he responded “No.”

According to images shown at the inquest, Woolmer had injuries to the face and neck.

Pollanen agreed with Sheshiah that bleeding would be caused from the injuries.

“If there is bleeding in these areas, there would be a head injury, which may be caused from a fixed, hard surface,”

he noted, adding that the injuries could have been the result of the face

“coming in contact with a hard surface.”

The inquest had previously heard that Woolmer was found with his head under the toilet bowl and that medical personal had to move him in order to attempt to revive him.

The inquest, presided over by Murphy and an 11-member jury, is to determine the cause of Woolmer’s death and whether anyone bears responsibility.

Jamaican police begin inquest to find Woolmer’s death cause

KINGSTON: Jamaican police have began the inquest on Tuesday to know the reason of the death of Pakistan cricket team’s coach Bob Woolmer.

Jamaican police have not ruled out a violent crime in the death of Bob Woolmer.

The inquest aims to determine if anyone bears responsibility for the death of the 58-year-old coach, who was found unconscious in his hotel room March 18, a day after his team was eliminated from cricket's World Cup.

"There was a lot of speculation, and as a result of that speculation we are having the inquest,"

Sgt. Dwayne Jex of the Jamaica Constabulary Force said Monday.

More than 50 people are expected to testify. Jex estimated the process would take more than two months.

Jamaican authorities initially said a preliminary autopsy was inconclusive, but a few days after Woolmer's death police announced he had been strangled, setting off a worldwide homicide probe.

Investigators collected dozens of DNA samples and fingerprints from potential witnesses, including members of the Pakistan cricket squad and other teams.

Months later, Jamaica's police commissioner announced authorities closed their homicide investigation after getting opinions from three independent pathologists from Britain, South Africa and Canada and reviewing a toxicology report.

Police said it would be up to Jamaica's coroner to issue the official cause of death after the inquest.

Woolmer inquest date is announced

The long-awaited coroner's inquest into the death of the former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer will begin on October 16, according to a Jamaica radio station.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room, a day after Pakistan's shock defeat against Ireland at Sabina Park - a result that condemned them to an early exit from the World Cup.

Acting on autopsy findings, Jamaica police initially said Woolmer had been strangled and launched a murder investigation. It was an announcement that sparked a media frenzy with speculation rife about a possible link with matchfixing.

The news was also a blow for Jamaica itself, a tourism-dependant country that is already plagued by one of the world's highest murder rates. But eventually, after months of investigation and a re-examination of the autopsy results, the police backtracked and said that Woolmer had died of natural causes, probably heart failure.

Ken Pantry, Jamaica's director of public prosecutions, said that more than 50 witnesses will be called at the inquest, to be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.

Shorter World Cup means less money, says official

Officials from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will meet on June 18 in the Pakistani summer resort of Bhurban to discuss matters relating to the 2011 World Cup, according to Saleem Altaf, the chief executive officer of the World Cup organising committee.

Altaf, speaking to The News, said that the officials from all four countries jointly hosting the World Cup would work out a method to meet initial expenses in the setting up as well as the running of the various organising committees.

Altaf said that the issue of generating seed money for the organising committee is expected to be settled during the meet.

"We need around US$500,000 for the initial expenses. This amount will be shared equally by the four boards,"

said Altaf. He stated that the organisers of the World Cup would also take steps towards opening a joint account during the meeting.

In addition, officials from India would speak on their experience of hosting the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy and on the expenses involved. The frequency of future meetings of the central organising committee and the setting up of local organising committees would also be discussed at the meet.

"We have to see whether all the boards are ready to put the local organising committees in place by February 2008, three years before the World Cup,"

he said.

On the issue of a shorter World Cup, Altaf said that the final decision would come from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"A shorter World Cup would mean less money and we are not happy with that. But the final decision would come from the ICC executive board,"

he explained.

Pakistan not to extend contracts of support staff

The Pakistan board has decided not extend the contracts of trainer Murray Stevenson and physiotherapist Darryn Lifson who had been working as the team's support staff under coach Bob Woolmer.

"We are not extending the contracts of Woolmer's support staff after their tenures finished this month," PCB operations director Zakir Khan told AFP.

Lifson and Stevenson, both from South Africa, were hired on Woolmer's recommendation in 2004. The duo were with the Pakistan team during the World Cup and they returned to South Africa two weeks after Woolmer's death.

Khan said the PCB was assessing its options on hiring a new trainer and a physiotherapist. "We have identified some new people and will hopefully decide before Pakistan's tour to Scotland early next month," said Khan. Pakistan are due play one-off internationals with India and Scotland in Glasgow after which they will head to South Africa for the Twenty20 World Cup in September before visiting India for five ODIs and three Tests.

Pakistan are also due to choose Woolmer's successor later this week.

‘Time to move on after Woolmer nightmare’

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chief said on Wednesday it was time for the national team to move on after Jamaican police revealed that coach Bob Woolmer was not murdered after all, but died of natural causes.

Nasim Ashraf, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said he was glad to see the end of a “traumatic” three months that began when Woolmer’s body was found in his hotel during the World Cup in the Caribbean.

“The chapter of Woolmer’s death is closed and we feel it’s time to move on,”

Ashraf told in his first comments since the announcement by Jamaican police late on Tuesday.

Cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan and some current players have called for the PCB to sue the Caribbean investigators because of the way the Pakistani team and the country were cast in a bad light by the affair.

But Ashraf appeared to rule out taking any legal action.

“I have given you Pakistan’s stance and I don’t want to comment on what individuals say,”

Ashraf said when asked if the PCB would take the Jamaican police to court.

The cricket board chairman said the case was made more difficult by “hurtful” speculation in the media, which threw allegations about gambling, poisoned champagne and even Al-Qaeda into the mix.

“There was a lot of unhealthy speculation about the cause of his death over the last few months, none of which eased the pressure,”

said Ashraf.

“We fully co-operated with the authorities so that the truth comes out in the case, (we) sent our diplomats and investigators to help them and we are now glad that the true findings have come out,”

he expressed.

The PCB head said that Pakistan would name the training facilities at its national cricket academy after Woolmer to honour his memory.

“Woolmer was literally a family member to us and we will always remember his services to Pakistan cricket,”

said Ashraf.

“I personally went to Cape Town to his funeral and consoled with his widow Gill and will continue to remember Woolmer as a great friend of Pakistan cricket,”

he added.

Looking to the future, Ashraf said Pakistan was rebuilding its side, which has also been hit by a series of crises over the past year including the Oval Test fiasco and a doping scandal.

Shoaib Malik has replaced Inzamam as captain to give the team a fresh start. The PCB is also nearing the end of an international hunt for a new coach.

Former Pakistan captain and coach Intikhab Alam said Pakistan should seek an apology from the Jamaican police but added that it was “too late” for any legal action. He said Pakistan also had to learn from the debacle.

Last few days in Caribbean hardest of my life: Inzamam

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq says he and fellow teammates endured a 10-day ‘nightmare’ in Jamaica following the sudden death of their coach Bob Woolmer on March 18.

In his diary for bigstarcricket.com, Inzamam also wrote that he was relieved to know that Woolmer was not murdered

“I am pleased to hear that Bob was not murdered, all the boys will feel the same as I’m sure his family will also. But this verdict will never take away one of the toughest periods in our lives. It was a nightmare,”

he wrote.

Jamaican Police on Tuesday announced that Woolmer died of natural causes almost three months after launching a murder probe following a pathologist reports which said that the Englishman was strangled.

Pakistani players had to go through Police interrogation, were finger-printed and had to give DNA samples before being allowed to fly out of Jamaica.

“Those final 10 days in the Caribbean were the hardest of my life. We went through hell. I was always hopeful and confident that Bob died naturally and that the Jamaican doctors made a mistake. It seems likely that the doctors there have said something wrong, maybe, but I don’t know the full facts,”

he added.

Inzamam, 37, who had to resign as Pakistan captain after leading the team in its worst ever World Cup campaign, said that Woolmer’s ‘murder’ announcement was a fatal blow for the quadrennial spectacle.

“I don’t know what has happened there but I can tell you it wasn’t good for the players or for Pakistan cricket. Actually when they started talking about ‘murder’ it was not a good thing for the world of cricket, not just Pakistan. It took over the whole World Cup,”

he wrote.

Inzamam said that he is feeling better after a two-month layoff and is now planning to make his international return.

“I needed a long time afterwards to get away from it all. After a two-month break I now feel relaxed again, the stress is gone and day by day things have become better. I started practice again two weeks ago. For six days a week I go to the gym and in the evenings when the weather is cooler I go to Lahore Gymkhana to practice my cricket. The club has good practice facilities, good bowlers, good pitches — they are a good club and it gives me all that I need for practice,”

he explained.

He added,

“Before the World Cup we were playing a lot of cricket and it was tiring. Then after all that happened at the World Cup I felt I need that two-month break. Now I’m mentally focused and feeling refreshed and very ambitious to play more Test cricket. I’m confident that I will and I’m working hard to make it happen.”

Inzamam, who has scored 8813 runs from 119 Tests, wants to continue playing cricket till he reached the 10,000-run milestone.

“I’m aware that I need a few runs (21) to pass Javed Miandad (to become Pakistan’s highest run-scorer) but I am looking further ahead than that. I want to score at least another thousand Test runs and get to 10,000. The summer that Pakistan has coming up later in the year is all the motivation I need with tough series against South Africa at home, India in India and then Australia at home. Hopefully the selectors will feel that my experience will be useful to the team. InshAllah,”

he signed off.

Asif Iqbal demands legal action against anti-Pakistan elements

LONDON: Former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal has called for legal action against those elements that had maligned the national team in the wake of the death of coach Bob Woolmer during the World Cup.

Commenting on the Jamaican police embarrassing reversal that Woolmer died of natural causes and was not strangled following Pakistan’s surprise World Cup loss this spring, Asif said certain individual players and a section of media must be penalised for pointing wrong fingers at the Pakistan team and its players.

Asif agreed that although Jamaican police had totally mishandled the case from the outset but according to him more damage was done to the team by the irresponsible statements from some of the Pakistani former Test players and a section of print and electronic media in a bid to outdo each other and increase their circulation and rating.

He said Woolmer’s death was related by these elements to match-fixing and Pakistan cricket culture which damaged the image of the country.

The former all-rounder was of the view that legal action be initiated against these elements for defaming Pakistan and for insinuations against the national team and the players.

Asked whether Jamaican Police should apologise to Pakistan cricket team, Asif said the Jamaican Police had said at the very onset that Woolmer’s death was being treated as ‘suspicious’.

“The apology should be rendered by those persons and the media who had spread all sorts of malicious stories about Pakistan cricket and its culture,”

he said.

Is PCB under pressure to sue Jamaica Police?

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is coming under increasing pressure to file for damages against the Jamaican police, once it is confirmed that Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered during the World Cup in the West Indies.

Former captain Inzamam-ul Haq was the first to advise the Board to think about taking legal action against the Jamaican police authorities and this demand has now been seconded by senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf and some other players.

The players, who are not supposed to speak to the media without clearance from the Board under a new gag policy, said they were treated like ordinary criminals by the Jamaican police.

“What the Board does is their decision but certainly the players want the Jamaican authorities to make a clear announcement on this issue soon and if it is confirmed our coach died of natural causes than the Board should consult its legal advisers,” one player said on condition of anonymity.

Cops to give final verdict on Woolmer

KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaica police have scheduled a news conference for next Tuesday (tomorrow) in which it will reveal former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer’s cause of death, a police source said on Saturday.

The news conference will be addressed by police commissioner Lucius Thomas, who will read a statement, outline toxicology results and give details of post mortem examinations carried out on Woolmer’s body. Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan had suffered a shock loss to Ireland in the World Cup. He was pronounced dead shortly after.

Local police decided to instigate a murder investigation into the Briton’s death following a release of the autopsy report that stated he had been strangled.

However, a pathologist attached to Britain’s Scotland Yard reported that Woolmer died of natural causes, a claim made before by two Pakistan police officers, who were in Kingston as part of the investigating team.

News reports have speculated that police would be changing their position from murder to death by natural causes, and police sources believe that Thomas will outline that view at next week’s news conference.

‘Pakistan await vindication over Bob’

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has urged Jamaican authorities to reveal the cause of coach Bob Woolmer’s death as soon as possible and finally clear the team of involvement.

Jamaican police are reportedly due to announce that Woolmer — who was found dead in his hotel room the day after the team were knocked out of the World Cup — was not murdered after all

.“Time will prove our innocence in the case and we want it to be over sooner
rather than later,” Inzamam said. “Besides the entire trauma, I was alleged
to be, God forbid, involved in Bob’s murder,”

he expressed.

“Now the true facts are coming out and I am thankful to Almighty,”

he added.

Inzamam said the team were still shaken by the days between March 17, when minnows Ireland sent Pakistan out of the World Cup, and March 28, when they returned home with police saying they were still in the frame.

"Those were the most traumatic days of our lives. We were thrown out of the World
Cup, Bob died and no one contacted us from Pakistan to give us any consolation,”

said Inzamam.

“I pray no Pakistani ever has to go through such circumstances,”

said Inzamam, who quit one-day cricket and relinquished the captaincy after the World Cup.

The PCB said it has yet to receive any information from the Jamaican police and would not comment until a formal announcement comes from the Caribbean.

Jamaican Police to say Woolmer died of natural causes: paper

LONDON: Jamaican police are to announce next week that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered as they had initially stated, British daily said on Saturday.

Citing a source close to the inquiry, the newspaper says Jamaican authorities will say they are no longer treating the death suspiciously and that the 58-year-old died of heart failure brought on by ill health and possibly diabetes.

Woolmer was found dead on the floor of his Kingston hotel bedroom on March 18 after Pakistan had been beaten by minnows Ireland in the World Cup, hastening their premature exit from the competition.

An initial post-mortem said the former England test batsmen had died of asphyxiation but, after a review by London’s Metropolitan Police, Jamaican officers now privately agree no third party was involved in his death, the paper said.

"Mr Woolmer was not a well man. It is now accepted that he died of natural
causes,"

the source was quoted as saying.

The paper also quoted a colleague of investigating officer Mark Shields, Jamaica's Deputy Commissioner of Police, criticising his conduct.

"With hindsight, he should have ensured a second post-mortem was carried out.
Instead of saying the death was suspicious, he rushed out a statement saying it
was murder. He is going to be a laughing stock,"

the colleague is quoted as saying.

The paper said a news conference would be held in Kingston next week.

Claims grow that Woolmer was not murdered

A report in today's London Times has backed claims at the weekend that a Home Office pathologist has concluded Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not murdered.
Reports from the post-mortem, photographs and other material have been examined by Dr Nat Carey, the pathologist who examined the bodies in the Soham murder case.

The original post-mortem, carried out in Jamaica, decided that strangulation was possible because a bone on Woolmer's neck had been broken.

Police are reported to be waiting for the results of a toxicology report after traces of a herbicide were found in Woolmer's body. The chemical is sometimes used on cricket pitches as a weedkiller, and one theory is that he might have accidentally ingested it. The report will show if the level of the toxin were suspiciously high or whether they could have built up over a period of time.

The Times noted that the herbicide can cause sickness and diarrhea, both of which Woolmer suffered on the night he died. The broken bone could have been the result of a fall as he collapsed in his hotel bathroom.

The report also claimed that the possibility that he was attacked by a disgruntled fan or player have been ruled out.

There were also criticisms of the handling of the investigation by the Jamaica police, with delays in retrieving and examining the CCTV, a failure to take swabs from Woolmer's hands and body, and the fact that the body was embalmed within hours of the post mortem.

The Jamaica Gleaner published a hard-hitting editorial on Tuesday in which the local police were openly slammed. "The now-it-is-now-it-isn't spectacle being played out in the international media over Woolmer's death must be particularly upsetting to his family and makes Jamaica's constabulary appear a bunch of incompetent boobs. It couldn't hurt the investigation, we feel, to publish the pathology report so as to clear the air. There should also be some official statement why the scheduled coroner's inquest appears to have been postponed indefinitely."

Selector files complaint against Imran Farhat

Salahuddin Ahmed, the chief selector of the PCB, has filed an official complaint against Imran Farhat, after the opener dissented at being left out of the Pakistan squad for the Abu Dhabi series against Sri Lanka. The development comes on the heels of a public rift between the selector and Mohammad Ilyas, the former Test opener and father-in-law of Farhat.

Salahuddin told The News that the national selection committee has sent a complaint to the board recommending disciplinary action against Farhat after he called up the selector and asked why he was left out of the squad.

"We have filed a complaint against Imran Farhat for trying to interfere with selection matters," said Salahuddin, a former Test cricketer.

"It was a violation of the code of conduct. No player is allowed to talk to the
chief selector or other members of the selection committee and raise objection
over the selection process."

According to Salahuddin Farhat asked,

"Why wasn't I selected in the team? What was my fault? I have no contract and if
I can't be in the team what would become of my future? You will have to give me
a reason why I was not considered?"

Farhat was quoted by a local agency denying any misbehaviour.

"I just met the selectors and asked the reasons behind my exclusion but, they
snubbed me and told me that selection committee is not answerable to any
player."

Dawn also reported, quoting sources, that Farhat later apologised to the selectors and assured them of their full cooperation in the future.

Farhat has not been a part of Pakistan's ODI plans in recent months, missing the ODI series against South Africa and the World Cup. The selectors opted instead for Salman Butt and Imran Nazir as openers in the 16-man squad for the series against Sri Lanka.

Farhat's protest came just a day after his father-in-law Ilyas exchanged heated words with Salahuddin and selection committee member Shafqat Rana soon after the Pakistan team was named in Lahore. Ilyas reportedly lost his cool when he discovered that Farhat had not been picked, ending the altercation with the words,

"the war is now on."

Ilyas told Dawn,

"It is not a threat but a fact that the selectors did not make the selection
fairly and it will ruin the career of many youngsters. If they consider it a
threat, let them."

An official notification about his behaviour has also been sent to the board. Farhat faces a fine for alleged violation of the PCB code of conduct.

Jamaican police insist Woolmer was murdered

Jamaican police are insisting that Bob Woolmer was murdered amid reports that Pakistani investigators have suggested otherwise due to lack of conclusive evidence. Karl Angell, director of communication for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), said that the investigation was based on credible evidence.

"The pathologist did an autopsy. He said to us in a written report that the man died from asphyxiation occasioned by manual strangulation, based on that our investigation proceeded but we have always said that the investigation is an open investigation and all angles are being looked at," Angell told The Gleaner.

Mir Zubair Mahmood, one of the two investigators sent by the Pakistani government to assist with the police probe in Jamaica, told reporters that there is no evidence to suggest that the Pakistan coach was murdered. However, according to Angell, Mahmood denied speaking to any reporters with such claims.

"Mahmood has indicated to us that a report was submitted to his boss that he had no discussion with any journalists or with anybody else regarding the report," confirmed Angell. "In private conversation with the Constabulary Force, Mahmood said that he is pleased with the way the investigation was going and he made no such deductions."

The complete report from the pathology and toxicology results is being analysed with the help of the Scotland Yard and are yet to be released.