Cricket Thread III

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Prints taken in Woolmer probe
From Joe Edwards in Kingston, Jamaica
March 23, 2007 <b>PAKISTAN'S World Cup players were fingerprinted by Jamaica's police overnight as the investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer became embroiled speculation and denial.</b>

The players were also questioned by police on the same day that two Jamaican newspapers claimed that 58-year-old Pakistan coach Woolmer, who died on Monday (AEDT), had been strangled.

That alleged cause of death comes after earlier rumours of poisoning and even killing at the hands of members of the criminal underworld keen to avoid exposure in allegations of match-fixing which may have arisen in a book that Woolmer was planning to write.

"We're going through a process of speaking to people, including members of the team," Mark Shields, the deputy chief commissioner of the Jamaica police force, said.

<b>Shields added that all of the Pakistan squad had been fingerprinted before being allowed to leave for the Jamaican resort of Montego Bay later in the day. </b>

<b>Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir confirmed the probe had been extended to the players, </b>saying that police were trying to ascertain Woolmer's last movements and stressing that the questioning was not carried out under caution.

<b>The police asked the Pakistani players "when did you last see Bob, what were his last movements, what happened after the game . . . did he order anything in his room?, Mir said. </b>

Pakistan, which has already been eliminated from the World Cup, is due to leave for home tomorrow after spending two days in Montego Bay.

<b>Meanwhile, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper reported a "high-ranking police officer" had confirmed that fresh evidence has surfaced which suggested that Woolmer was strangled in his room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. </b>

<b>According to the police officer, Woolmer was found half naked in his room, partially wrapped in a towel, the newspaper claimed. </b> <i>(Taleban influence? Did some pak player/official try to get frisky with the coach? And unlike the young boys...)</i>

<b>"A bone in the neck, near the glands, was broken, and this suggests that somebody might have put some pressure on it," the officer told the newspaper. </b>

<b>"We are now treating this as a homicide." </b>

<b>The Jamaica Observer also quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation as saying that bones in the lower part of Woolmer's face were broken, suggesting he had been strangled.</b>

<b>Mir dismissed the suggestions, and also speculation over a link with match-fixing as "totally baseless and premature". </b>

"I'm afraid I cannot count these as accurate because the Jamaican police force hasn't given us official information as to what were the causes of Bob's death," Mir said.

<b>"I hope the police come up with a statement and some answers as soon as possible," he said, calling on people to be "considerate and sensitive". </b>  <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->

Woolmer died in hospital on Monday after being found unconscious in his hotel room a day after Pakistan was knocked out of the World Cup after a shock defeat by minnow Ireland.

Shields said on Wednesday that an autopsy conducted on Woolmer's body by a government pathologist proved inconclusive as to the cause of death, which was being treated as "suspicious".

Shields said the police were awaiting the results of the toxicology and histology analysis from Woolmer's tissue sample.

But the Jamaica police force has now flown in a pathologist from Florida for a second opinion.

Agence France-Presse

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