Pakistan’s bookmakers say underground gambling groups are unlikely to have been involved in the murder of national cricket coach Bob Woolmer even though match-fixing plagues the sport.
Bookies told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the groups had no motive to go after Woolmer, who was strangled to death a day after Pakistan were knocked out of the World Cup following their loss to unfancied Ireland.
Jamaican police have stressed they do not yet have any suspects, but fingers are being pointed at the powerful betting and match-fixing mafia that has become synonymous with cricket.
”It is true that match-fixing is still a problem and international players from many countries are involved,” a leading bookmaker in Rawalpindi said.
”But how would bookmakers benefit from the murder of a coach? We don’t understand,” the bookie said on condition of anonymity.
Speculation has mounted since Woolmer’s death last Sunday that he was about to blow the whistle on match-fixing in a new book.
Another leading bookie, working in Rawalpindi and in the capital Islamabad, claimed Pakistan’s loss in the opening match against the West Indies was fixed as well as the result in India’s clash with Bangladesh.
He also claimed Indian, Pakistani and South African bookmakers paid large amounts of money to cricketers to try to swing the result of matches.
But he said there was no information circulating in Pakistan’s many underground gambling dens to suggest Woolmer was aware of the problem.
”It is possible that Woolmer had come to know of certain people involved and they planned his murder, but as such we have no information that bookmakers wanted to get rid of him or he was posing any problems,” he said.
Although gambling is banned in Pakistan, there are numerous underground networks. In Rawalpindi and Islamabad almost 50 dens exist, most of them set up in public call offices, jewellery stores, video shops and shoe stores.
A top bookie based in the eastern city of Lahore told AFP that information about matches that determined rates came mainly from neighbouring India.
”Pakistani bookmakers do not have a very large network and their operations are mainly dependent on bookies based in the Indian city of Mumbai,” he said.
Match-fixing scandals have erupted in both countries in recent years, most notably embroiling former South African captain Hansie Cronje who was taped by New Delhi police alluding to the underworld’s links with cricket.
In Pakistan, former captain Salim Malik was implicated in fix allegations in the mid 1990s that ended his career.
Since Woolmer’s death, claims have emerged from former cricketers and criminals alike of cricket’s links to match-fixing.
British newspaper the Sun said the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit was investigating unusual betting patterns in Pakistan’s defeat to the West Indies on March 13.
The tabloid said investigators were probing a theory that Pakistan could still have qualified for the second stage by beating Ireland and Zimbabwe but betting plans went awry after Pakistan lost to Ireland.
Suggestions, however, that Woolmer was about to blow the whistle on the practice have been denied by his co-author, Ivo Tennant. He told the Times newspaper on Saturday they could be ”dismissed unequivocally”.
Pakistan cricketers head home
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s cricketers headed home on Saturday after police interviewed three team members for a second time, but said none of them were suspects.
”They clarified a number [of] points,” Jamaica’s deputy commissioner of police Mark Shields said after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, caretaker coach Mushtaq Ahmed and manager Talat Ali were questioned just before they and the rest of the team headed to the Montego Bay airport for their flight home.
”There is nothing to suggest any of them is a suspect at this stage,” Shields said of the Pakistani players and other team members.
”It was nothing, just one question, nothing special,” the 37-year-old Inzamam told Sky News television.
All team members were interviewed by police and gave DNA samples and fingerprints. Shields said the team cooperated fully.
”They were never under detention,” said Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the first secretary at the Pakistani embassy in Washington, who flew to Kingston with another diplomat to be briefed about the investigations.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Shields, he said the team were still ”traumatised” by the death of Woolmer.
Reeling from their losses, Pakistan’s cricketers on Saturday expressed relief at heading home from Jamaica.
”The players are relieved now to be going home,” team spokesperson Pervez Mir told Sky News as the players packed their bags for their late Saturday flight home via London.
”The players have been very scared. When something like this happens it’s indeed a very scary thing,” said Mir.
Woolmer was a former England international who had coached the Pakistan team since 2004.
Jamaican police believe the victim may have known his killer or killers. ”It’s fair to acknowledge that because it was in his hotel room it may be an associate,” said Shields.
Authorities in Jamaica, one of the Caribbean nations hosting World Cup matches, told Woolmer’s family the body will remain on the island until the conclusion of a coroner’s inquest to be held as soon as possible.
Shields said the coach’s widow, Gill Woolmer, was upset the body would not be repatriated on Monday, but understood this was a legal requirement. – Sapa-AFP