Former Pakistani cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has claimed that former coach Bob Woolmer had embraced Islam four days before his death, leading to much speculation about the news.
Who is Bob Woolmer?
Robert Andrew Woolmer was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and commentator. He played in 19 Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coached South Africa, Warwickshire, and Pakistan.
Career as cricketer
Bob Woolmer played English county cricket for Kent, initially as an all-rounder. He graduated to Test cricket with England in 1975 again, at first, as an all-rounder, having taken a hat-trick for MCC against the touring Australian cricket team with his fast-medium bowling.
Woolmer was also a regular in England ODI cricket from 1972 to 1976. But Woolmer’s international career stalled after he joined the World Series break-away group run by Kerry Packer. Though he appeared intermittently in the Test team up to 1981, he never recaptured the form of the mid-1970s. He also took part in the South African rebel tours of 1982, a move that effectively ended his international career.
Coaching career in Pakistan
He was appointed coach of the Pakistan team in 2004. This came after Javed Miandad was sacked when the Pakistanis conceded a 2–1 Test and 3–2 ODI series loss on home soil to arch rivals India, their first series win there in two decades.
Woolmer was feted when his team reversed the result in early 2005 on their return tour to India, drawing the Tests 1–1 and winning the ODI series 4–2.
In 2005, Pakistan beat England in a home series immediately after England had beaten the Australian team in England to secure the Ashes.
In the home series against India that followed, Woolmer’s side were victorious in the Test series, winning it 1–0; however, the side lost the ODI series that followed 4–1. Woolmer’s side then beat Sri Lanka 2–0 in a 3 ODI series and achieved a 3rd consecutive Test series win with a 1–0 win in a 2 test series with Sri Lanka.
How and when did he die?
On 18th March 2007, Woolmer died suddenly in Jamaica, just a few hours after the Pakistan team’s unexpected elimination at the hands of Ireland in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Did he really embrace Islam?
Since 2007, there were no such speculations of Woolmer embracing Islam until now when former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam Ul Haq claimed in an interview that Bob Woolmer had embraced Islam just a few days before his death. According to Haq, Woolmer was interested in knowing Islam.
Haq also claimed that Bob Woolmer used to ask for Islamic information, books, and references. After learning Islam Bob recited Kalma E Shahada in front of cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed. Inzamam added that Woolmer said ‘Sahada’ four days before his death but Ulemas can only comment on his religious status if he had embraced Islam or not.
