Bob Woolmer played, coached and commentated on the game all of his life © Getty Images

Tributes from the cricketing world have poured in for Bob Woolmer, the deceased Pakistan coach and ex-England Test player.

Neil Manthrop, a close friend of Woolmer, has a lot of memories of the man outside cricket - whether it was planning a surprise for his wife on their silver anniversary or playing a round of golf. He writes on Supercricket website:

There they stood, wine glasses in hand, having enjoyed a meal of which few could remember better. Seconds passed before, slowly but surely, a silver sports car was driven amongst us. It had an enormous, silk bow tied around it and a card which read: "Happy Anniversary - love you always, Bob."

The whisper had alerted everyone to the surprise, everyone that is, but the recipient. The whisper had told us that the lady had dreamed, all her life, of driving an open-topped sports car with the wind blowing in her hair and the scent of the Cape filling her senses.

From England batsman to international innovator, he was always admired, writes David Hopps in the Guardian.

He was among the pioneers of video analysis as a coaching aid, now an accepted part of the game. He recognised the extent with which information technology would revolutionise the game. He always preferred to guide rather than dictate and a gentle, caring and always humane approach to life was regularly evident.

Writing in The Times, Ivo Tennant recalls the times spent with a close friend; a student in love with the game, too generous with his time, and whose door was open to everyone.

I shall miss his flow of e-mails, his kindness, his coaching tips to my son and, above all, his zest for life. There was no such thing as a difficult moment with him: the relationship between the star coach and the “ghost” of his columns and his autobiography was an even one — even though he had given so freely of his time that sometimes he could not recall that he had made a particular observation. It did not matter because these were usually spot-on. No one cared more about the game, or understood it and those who peopled it, better than Bob.

September 2, 2006

Outstanding contributor - Clyde Walcott tribute

Posted on 09/02/2006 in Obituaries

Clyde Walcott will be buried in his native Barbados today. Read Ali Bacher's tribute to the man who "probably did more for West Indies and world cricket than anyone else".

For West Indies, he was a great player, team manager, convener of selectors and president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). For world cricket, he became chairman of the International Cricket Council, the highest office in the game. In every capacity, he was driven by one thing only - his great passion for cricket.

August 28, 2006

A cricketing giant

Posted on 08/28/2006 in Obituaries

Player, coach, captain, selector, manager, administrator and unwavering defender of the game's great values, Sir Clyde Walcott was a cricketing giant in every way, writes Tony Cozier in Barbados-based The Daily Nation.

In 44 Tests for the West Indies, he became one of the finest batsmen the game has known, forever linked with a triumvirate of Barbadian batsmen, born within a year and a mile of each other and everlastingly known as the 3Ws through the coincidence of the first letter of their surnames.

Read Sir Everton Weekes's tribute in The Nation, as told to Philip Spooner.

"It's not easy to accept what is inevitable, although we expect it sometimes, when it happens it still chokes you up inside."

Also read Walcott's obituary by BC Pires in The Guardian.

August 26, 2006

'Those phones will no longer ring'

Posted on 08/26/2006 in Obituaries

Writing in The Indian Express, S Santhanam relives some special moments with former Test opener and gentleman cricketer Vijay Mehra, who died of a heart attack yesterday.

Mehra always took keen interest in the domestic matches and would often ring this writer to get the scores of different teams and players. Those phones will no longer ring, I have lost a close guide and admirer.

Also read K Datta's obituary in the Times of India.

August 25, 2006

Hooray for Raja, a sport to the end

Posted on 08/25/2006 in Obituaries

Geoff McClure remembers an interesting anecdote about Wasim Raja, who died recently, during his first meeting at Perth almost 25 years ago:

I challenged him to a wager involving the rest of the match. At odds of 2-1, Raja would win $100 if he took at least one wicket when Australia's second innings resumed next day and then score a half-century when Pakistan batted. But, on my insistence, part of the deal was that he also had to celebrate each achievement by standing in the middle of the pitch with his both arms facing towards the heavens.

Read here to find out more.

July 2, 2006

Trueman, now he could bowl

Posted on 07/02/2006 in Obituaries

	England's players line up for a minute's silence in honour of Fred Trueman © Getty Images

Yesterday’s sad news of Fred Trueman’s death has understandably produced many tributes across this morning’s papers.

Scyld Berry calls him the greatest of the greatest, in a touching homage in The Sunday Telegraph:

Michael Holding had a beautiful bowling action, Harold Larwood too, but nobody has matched Trueman for a classical side-on action. It was magnificent theatre, and being no fool but full of street wisdom, coming as he did from a mining community, the man himself knew it.

[…]

When Trueman reached the crease, his left arm was pointing towards the batsman as a veiled threat. When he lifted his left side into the air, his right arm was simultaneously cocked back, fully armed and ready to strike. The end-result was normally an outswinger to the right-handed batsman, if he had not been entranced by the spectacle which had unfolded before him.

	'[his] classical side-on action was lent an additional romantic quality by his athleticism and mane of swirling dark hair' © The Cricketer International

Vic Marks, who shared a commentary box with Trueman for Test Match Special, offers similar sentiments and hints at the humour which made Trueman such an engaging character:

Trueman was notorious for spending much of the time in the opposition's dressing room, rather than his own, before the start of play. Puffing his pipe, he would announce to Yorkshire's opponents who would make up his five-wicket haul later in the day, pointing out in some detail how he was going to get them.
Ray Illingworth, who also started his career with Fred, said: 'There was always a smile on his face. There was no malice when he was telling them that he was going to find out whether they could hook or not.'

Stephen Brenkley writes in the Independent about the romance of his action:

He was assisted by a classical side-on action which was lent an additional romantic quality by his athleticism and mane of swirling dark hair. For the better part of 20 years and more he was an essential part of the national round, pipe man of the year among other things and a perennial card.

June 24, 2006

Fight's over for Budhi

Posted on 06/24/2006 in Obituaries

It was a fight till the very end for Budhi Kunderan, the former India wicketkeeper who succumbed to cancer yesterday. Clayton Murzello pays a tribute, with touching quotes from family and Kunderan's friends.Read the full piece in Mid-Day.

"In the age of the Internet, Budhi Kunderan did not give it any space. He used his hands to write letters to his dear ones."

June 3, 2006

So close, yet so far apart

Posted on 06/03/2006 in Obituaries

	© Cricinfo

It was one legendary toss of a coin which spelt out Eric Bedser's destiny. For Eric and Alec Beder, twins almost joined in-the-hip, their lives couldn't have been more different. David McKie, in his moving obituary of Eric in The Guardian portrays a special sibling relationship without a trace of envy.

"Romantic egalitarians, a tribe to which I belonged in those days (and still do) grieved on Eric's behalf, even if Eric himself never displayed the mildest sign of resentment; and grieved even more for the knowledge that Eric's diminished role seemed to have turned on the toss of a coin."

And there is also an article we have found from The Cricketer in July 1943 about the emerging talents that they were at the time and their early days.

"Umpires, too, have had their problems. Once, when Alec was run out in a match, Eric followed in, but the umpire refused to allow him to bat “again” until Alec was recalled from the pavilion for purposes of comparison."

April 13, 2006

Robbo just 'knew'

Posted on 04/13/2006 in Obituaries

Neil Manthorp in Supercricket pays a warm tribute to Peter Robinson, the cricket writer who passed away due to cancer.

He was sharper than any of us, often wittier and certainly more argumentative. Forget crosswords or Sudoku for mental exercise, on long tours to India or England we would stay in shape by disagreeing with Robbo on a subject we knew he felt strongly about. I never saw anyone win - but it was fun trying.