Why We’re Shocked

hmm .. Che.. i hear you. Quite possible.
OTOH... sticking with most of your storyline, it could be that ``he knew too much and [that put someone under pressure``. He had a book (or two, i hear) coming out in which he might have named names.

(hmmm... Then again, killing him would just increase the popularity of his book(s) )

btw, apparently there were scratch marks on his neck, suggesting a struggle/scuffle.

This may seem insensitive coming so soon after his death and all but this is Chowk so I`m gonna go ahead with my conspiracy theory:

Woolmer (RIP) was coach of South Africa while a certain Mr. Hansie Cronje (RIP) was captain and other members of the South African team who had links to match fixing (Gibbs, Boje) were also present under his tenure. I have a feeling he had some idea what was going on there...

Now onto, the Ireland match that defeat was something NO ONE could have predicted, I mean the batting was a lot more pathetic than usual, bookies would have made a killing.

U kno wat i iz sayin yeh? He knew too much and couldn`t take the pressure

Re: # 9

HP

India being bested by Bangladesh was a surprise but not a shock...those tiger cubs have been learning to hunt for a while(witness Sophia Gardens ,Cardiff,2005-MightyOz ona toss) and they caught the fat Indian Lions sleeping on the hunt.

Pakistan were outplayed on a seaming wicket...alas no Asif,No Razzaq...still Azhar had the nous for it..Still Ireland the Brave won the day.

I maintain, historically and talent wise india and PAk are mighty talented.One bad day.

Never mind.This tiresome cycle will be repeated and by the time the dust is settled, we all will forget.

One far more serious sporting disgrace has gone unnoticed..both India and PAkistan losing to China in Hockey!!!!and no one is shocked!!!

HP:

The problem with your thesis is the same as that besetting some 9/11 conspiracy theories, like the one that the towers collapsed in a controlled implosion. That is, it asks that we believe that an unbeleivable number of alleged conspirators were invloved.

You`re pretty much suggesting that more than half the team in this case was.

re. ``We can say that most Pakistanis are reflexive batsmen but come on; you know exactly what was going on… batsmen could have easily avoided those shots.``

If I won a dime for every time a Pakistani batsmen played capriciously, you know where I`d be living now, don`t you? :-)

Am not sure which match you watched, HP, but the one I did showed the ball swinging MENACINGLY in the morning. Yes, the Paksitani bowlers didn`t exploit those conditions, but then, when, since Sarfaraz, did any concentrate on `seam up`? Pakistani conditions just don`t encourage you to do so, and neither Rao nor Ijaz have spent any good time in England to learn the ropes.

It`s certainly possibe that some were involved in match-fixing, and yes, I`d favour an inquiry, but lets not suggest that the team, en bloc, had their hands dirty.

What a waste of an article.

Why is HP`s post filtered? There is some serious analysis in there.

#8 by okhla99 on March 19, 2007 7:16pm PT
“The betting angle will probably never be explored.”

True! Flipping channels and all that for both games, I was amazed to see that despite full knowledge of the nature of the pitch which was explained in details by Holding and co in the commentary box, Pakistan had no visible plan to counter that. In fact, it appeared they were not even aware that the conditions and the pitch would support seam and some swing.

Let’s ignore Hafiz’s atrociously probing bat, I was surprised at the way both Inzi and Younis played. They appeared as two batsmen who had no prior knowledge of the expected pitch behavior. Recall that both came after they saw hafiz’s dismissal and the ball movement from the dressing room.

Mohd Yousuf was handling the seam and swing and was watching the ball carefully but all of sudden he decided to start cutting. Nazir was defending until the last over when he decided to take a swing at every ball and was out immediately. It seemed to me that he got a signal from somewhere to get out. Shoaib Malik never counseled Nazir and himself decided to pull when it was clear that ball was coming on to bat at variable height.

We can say that most Pakistanis are reflexive batsmen but come on; you know exactly what was going on… batsmen could have easily avoided those shots.

Did Coach and Captain not advise them to be cautious out there and build the innings?

Inzi has been involved in match fixing before and since it was going to be his last tour, we can safely assume some hanky panky there. The other match fixer Mushtaq was there too and they both sidelined Bob Woolmer just before the WC. Some other players in Pakistan team are not above suspicion.

The PCB and ICC must investigate.

That brings up the question: perhaps Woolmer knew too much.

Pakistan bowlers had no idea how to bowl on that pitch. As commentator pointed out they were not letting the ball do the trick instead they are forcing the pace when it was not necessary at all. Umer Gul and Rao kept banging the ball on the pitch when all they had to do was to drop the ball short of length at a slower speed and let the ball do the talking.

India game: Indians may not have taken Bangladesh seriously initially but despite losing couple of wickets, they had the batting to still take control of the game. Some formidable stroke players batted like they had no clue. Tendulakr casually played the ball that got him out and then Ganguly instead of attacking the mediocre spinners and medium pacer was treating them like they were Lilly and Warne.

There were no demons in the pitch. 17 and 18 years old Bangla batsmen had no problem attacking the Indian bowling on the same pitch.

Some one has to follow the money in both games……

The betting angle will probably never be explored. A whole bunch of people lost a LOT of money when Pakistan did a ``Sub se pehlay`` exit from the world cup. FInancial ruin can also cause a lot of stress.

re. #5:

Dear rf786

You seemed to have misread my intent.

Anyway, the trouble with getting too emotional about sport is that heads do sometimes literally roll, or at the very least, are in danger of doing so.

Hey, at least the cricket team is following Musharraf`s dictum to the letter ,

Sub Say Pehlay Pakistan

Dear writer,

You have chosen to write this article when Pakistan has suffered a most humiliating defeat, is that not indicative of the fact that you too are influenced by the worldcup madness? And more importantly, when the same cricketers perform well, they are showered with millions, love and affection by the same general public. Why sud they not vent their anger in the same tempo to me does not make any sense cause the players love it when the public hails them as demi-gods and writers like yourself do not express any reservations meaning acceptance of current state of affairs.

In short, Paki fans are furious and rightfully so, leave us to fume for a while, dont get so rational and self-righteous as of right now, maybe after we have seen eleven heads roll (not literally speakin).

It`s high time the Subcontinent moves away from this productivity destroying game and it`s overhyped, corrupt Practitioners,

Pull the cronies like Waseem Bari and Naseem Ashraf out and place Imran at the top and Miandad the second and see the pinnacle again.

Pakistan Cricket....R.I.P.

A well balanced article.