Remembering Bob Woolmer
The Photo That Was Not Taken
Woolmer passed away! The scroll on the TV screen early morning shocked me. I knew he was admitted to hospital before I slept late night, but then I didn’t think it was that serious.
If his death has anything to do with the Pakistan’s defeat against Ireland, it’s a ironical one because he was the one who, as the High Performance Manager of International Cricket Council, had worked hard to nurture the cricket of the associate nations including Ireland.
When there were criticisms on inclusion of minnows in the World Cup, he joined a group of supporters saying:
“All those associate sides have been working very hard. The high-performance program has lifted significantly since I was there. There’s a much larger budget. What we call the banana-skin sides, are better prepared than they were for the last World Cup.”
His words, spoken after the practice match between South Africa and Ireland, proved true.
He once visited Nepal – in January, 2004 as the member of High Performance Project and I attended the press conference. He was optimistic about Nepal’s chances and hopeful he will come back again (as I did) and there were journalists and all taking photographs with him. I didn’t because I wanted to take a photo with him when he would had returned to nurtured the team playing in the World Cup.
Sadly, that wouldn’t happen now. Neither I would get a chance to take a photo with him nor would Nepali cricketers benefit from the immense knowledge he had.
Of course, Woolmer would be missed! And, alas, he wouldn’t come back to Nepal as promised.
By Ujjwal Acharya who is a professional journalist and a hobbyist online professional. He is the founder editor of NepalCricket.com & blogs at NepaliVoices.com 
