'Endless talent, endless problems – but Pakistan coach had no regrets'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp...icle1539817.ece

Endless talent, endless problems – but Pakistan coach had no regrets

Ivo Tennant, who was working with the former England batsman on a new book, says his friend had been charmed by the nation

Not long before his death, Bob Woolmer and I had begun work on a sequel to his autobiography that would take in his coaching of South Africa, Warwickshire for a second spell, and Pakistan.

It was clear that his respect for Hansie Cronje never wavered in spite of his involvement in match-fixing, that he erred in returning to Edgbaston and that, for all the sniping he received from Javed Miandad, his predecessor as coach, and for all his trying experiences with Shoaib Akhtar and Inzamam-ul-Haq — and over the ball-tampering rumpus at the Brit Oval last year — he never regretted becoming the coach of Pakistan.

The country, its culture and its religion fascinated him to the extent that he studied the lore of the land during the many quiet moments he had in Lahore when separated from his family in South Africa.

Woolmer, who died in Jamaica on Sunday, would ask himself from time to time why he had taken the job when he would have been better remunerated coaching, say, Surrey and living in the Home Counties he knew well from his playing days in England. “I had heard a lot about the intolerance of failure when I took on the job,” he said. “There was much to put me off — many stories and rumours of match-fixing and ball-scratching — and yet the talent emerging from the country appeared to be endless. Indian and Pakistani cricket, turning pitches, wristy batsmen, reverse swing, held a sort of mystique for me.


“I felt I could see the game and coaching in a completely different light.” He could sense a further attraction when he met the people, good-mannered and friendly, and even driving around the streets of Lahore and Karachi. “I was met by a cacophony of sound. Yet traffic accidents were minimal and road rage almost non-existent.”

Australia, he felt, were taking the game to new levels. At the age of 56, he believed that he could not turn down a role in which he could challenge their primacy and, besides, Woolmer liked the Pakistan players. He had a particular regard for Mohammad Yousuf, as a person and as a batsman.

When he and his wife, Gill, invited the team to a barbecue in Cape Town during their tour to South Africa this year, he was taken with the way they insisted on all praying together, on his lawn. No matter that the food was almost overcooked. He did not join in, telling them cricket was his religion.

While concerned about the all-pervading influence of the madrassas, Woolmer studied the Koran to understand the team that much better. Although he felt that they were too inclined to believe tales of black magic and superstitions, he valued the discipline that religion imposed, that there was no drinking and hence no need for curfews.

The difficulties he experienced were with three individuals in particular: Miandad, Shoaib and Inzamam. His loyalty toward Cronje when coaching South Africa had not been reciprocated; now, although always supportive of the Pakistan captain in public, Woolmer felt this year that they would become a better team when Inzamam stood down.

After Pakistan’s poor results in Australia in 2004-05, coach and captain were summoned to see President Musharraf, who convinced him that he needed to improve his own leadership. “Inzamam did lead from the front after that, but I had to take into consideration his mood swings and a perception that he was too powerful,” Woolmer said. Of even greater concern was the influence of Miandad, one of Pakistan’s greatest batsmen, who, apart from having been dismissed as coach, disliked the fact that the Pakistan Cricket Board had employed a foreigner in his place.

Woolmer immediately arranged a meeting with him upon succeeding him in 2004, but, to his surprise, found that there was a press photographer present. “He generously gave me supper and we discussed the team player by player, but I am afraid all I gleaned from this experience was that he was a bitter man who did not think the team could play,” Woolmer said.

Throughout Woolmer’s tenure he felt Miandad to be constantly denigrating everything he did. “As a coach, he had very good ideas on practice methods, but his handling of people seemed to be the main reason he was not retained,” he said. He vowed never to become a grumpy old cricketer who extols only his own playing days.

His most testing relationship, though, was with Shoaib, which culminated in a spat in front of the television cameras in Port Elizabeth during Pakistan’s tour to South Africa in January. Woolmer was well aware that Shoaib was a proven wicket-taker, a potential match-winner and the fastest bowler in the world, but he was not convinced by the player’s attitude. He wanted him to reduce his run-up to prolong his career and to improve the overrate, and to work on his fitness.

Woolmer, who did not dislike Shoaib, told him that by failing to turn up for physiotherapist appointments, which was in breach of his contract, he had shown a disregard for himself as coach. Shoaib, he reckoned, was not adverse to the good life. “I suppose the bottom line was that he never really knew how to handle it and the dedication needed to play at the highest levels,” Woolmer said. “I doubt if Roger Federer parties every evening during Wimbledon.”

Too many injuries, culminating in being unable to bowl during South Africa’s second innings in Port Elizabeth after taking four wickets in their first, affected the balance and effectiveness of the team. This was but one of a number of stresses to affect Woolmer during the past six months, Dawn the English-language Pakistan newspaper, alleging that he had racially abused Shoaib during their contretemps on the dressing-room balcony. Woolmer, incensed not least given the amount of time he had spent coaching non-white cricketers in South Africa, threatened to take legal action. And in other regards, he felt that the newspaper was simply mirroring the views of his critics.

No experience, he knew, would ever be perfect in coaching — and coaching Pakistan was not. “There is much confusion as to how much effect the role has on performance and how much responsibility the coach should have,” Woolmer said shortly before his death. “But I was encouraged by the structures being put into the grass roots of Pakistan cricket by the board and by the support I have been given by all those with Pakistani cricket at heart. It has been more than an interesting job, for every day has held something new.”

My respect for him grows even more after reading that.

"Australia, he felt, were taking the game to new levels. At the age of 56, he believed that he could not turn down a role in which he could challenge their primacy..."

This is what we all were hoping for with a professional like Bob as the coach.

Unfortunately it was not to be.....and not because the talent wasn't there.

Same here. We have lost a very humble man.

I feel angry at myself for doubting his intentions and credentials.

I am sorry Bob. May God Bless You....

just goes to show what bob was up against...

those who continuoly attacked him were too short sigthed and for some reason refused to accept the reality of pakistan culture...one of back biting, power playing and corruption...

thats why i still say that no coach or captain is going to make a big difference unless there is a fundamental change to the system...

poor bob...thanks for trying..and sorry for the way you were treated..may you rest in peace.

Ah..so bob did not think Izni was an ideal captain..that answers alot of questions..so we were wrong in thinking that Bob was calling the shots behind the scenes, when infact it was Inzi.

Bob has always worked well with tigerish captains such as Reeve and Cronje. Inzy didn't / doesn't obviously fit into that category. When he first took charge I felt that he would groom either Malik or Younis for the role. However there is no doubt that Bob saw that Inzy brought a lot to the team and he was the best option in the short term, otherwise he could have recommended a new captain at any point, which to my knowledge he never did even secretly.

some interesting points made there - but we'll never know for certain now if these were actually his views or someone's minterpretation of what he said