Bob's autopsy reports shocks ICC shell

Port of Spain, Mar 22 (UNI) The International Cricket Council (ICC) was today shaken to its core with unconfirmed reports saying that former Pakistan coach Bob woolmer was strangulated to death.

''It is a devastating report if it is correct'' said an ICC official who did not want to be named.

''I am reacting to a question but I am not aware of the full facts and not even sure that the report is correct, that is why I don't want to be quoted,'' he said, adding that if the report is correct it will be a terrible tragedy and will undoubtedly harm the games reputation.

According to the reports, though the Pakistan team is planning to leave for Montego Bay after their final encounter against Zimbabwe, but it is not clear whether they will be allowed to leave Kingston following the dramatic revealations by the Jamaican police terming the Kanpur-born Englishman's death as 'suspicious' after having announced in the afternoon that initial investigations and autopsy reports were 'inconclusive'.

The status, however, shifted after the toxicology and histology tests conducted on the body yesterday, pointing strong possibility that Woolmer might have been poisoned to death.

Though officials of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC are in place, their role in the 58-year-old coach's death, including the larger picture of book-makers seeking to influence matches at the ongoing World Cup has been thrown under a cloak of secrecy.

There are reports that bookmakers from Pakistan, India and Dubai have flown in for the mega event, and that ACU officials are keeping a close vigil on the happenings at team hotels in the respective four venues.

These speculations came to light from past incidents involving an underworld gangster and Karachi's top gambling den operator Shoaib Khan being shot down in South Africa while he was being taken back to prison.

It was followed by the sudden death of former South African captain Hansie Cronje in a plane crash, who was banned for life for his role in 1992 match-fixing scandal.

Interestingly, neither Woolmer's widow Gill, nor their two sons, will fly to the Caribbean to collect the body.

''Having met with the pathologist, other medical personnel and investigators, there is now sufficient information to continue full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Bob Woolmer, which we are now treating as 'suspicious','' Mr Mark Shields, Deputy Commissioner of Jamaican police in-charge for crime portfolio, told reporters in a hurriedly convened press conference in Kingston late yesterday evening.

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