First we had Bob Woolmer’s death. Sad, but not terribly unexpected for a man with a congenital weight problem. Then, they said it was murder - which seemed incredibly unlikely.
Now it transpires he was poisoned too! So somebody sneaked into his hotel, went to his room, poisoned him, held him down until the poison took effect, and then strangled him. On an island that is awash with handguns, machines designed for no purpose other than killing people. This is very very weird.
Then, perhaps even more strangely, the ICC have managed to concoct a cricket competition that lasts too long. For anyone who knows cricket, the idea that anyone involved in the game could find anything taking too long is incredible. A good 5 match test series takes 25 days. Anything shorter than that isn’t a proper competition. That the World Cup has managed to take too long is a real achievement.
Finally, they have managed to appoint match officials who don’t know the laws of the game. Whatever else happens in international cricket, you can always rely on the umpires and referees to be absolutely on top of the rules. Even when making rather capricious decisions (as Darrell Hair did at The Oval when he decided Pakistan had forfeited), they are within the laws.
The ludicrous behaviour at the World Cup final was so un-cricket it’s hard to believe that’s the sport they were playing. Even club games have umpires with more clue and common sense.
Since the latter two problems are attributable directly to the ICC, it’s tempting to blame the first on them too. So, you heard it here first: Malcolm Speed snuck into Bob Woolmer’s room, poisoned and then strangled him. Just like he did for the World Cup. Presumably the motive was the same - money.
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