Jamaican police say former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer, born in Kanpur when it was still called Cawnpore, was strangled to death during the Cricket World Cup:

Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room after the team’s shocking World Cup loss to Ireland, police said Thursday…. the pathologist report found Bob Woolmer’s death was due to “asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation…”

Pakistan cricketers were fingerprinted and interviewed on Thursday… the team was fingerprinted as part of standard procedure “to eliminate persons from fingerprints which would be found in the room…”

Former Pakistani player Sarfraz Nawaz speculated earlier in the week that the coach was killed by gambling interests… Musharraf said he would be awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, or Star of Excellence, for his contribution to sport. [Link]

There are conflicting reports over whether there was a struggle:

… there was no sign of forced entry into Mr Woolmer’s hotel bedroom, nor had his possessions been disturbed…

… a former Scotland Yard detective said it was likely more than one killer was involved in the “particularly horrific” murder. “It would take some force because Bob was a large man and, therefore, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him…” Much of the vomit was sprayed high on the walls, suggesting a violent struggle… [Link]

Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields said there had been no signs of struggle inside the room, indicating that Mr. Woolmer might have known his attacker. He also said that because Mr. Woolmer was a big man, it might have taken more than one person to subdue him. [Link]

There are also conflicting reports over whether he was about to blow the cover off yet another match-fixing scandal:

One senior ICC official told The Times last night: “He told too many people he was writing a book.” [Link]

Speculation that Woolmer, a former England player and South Africa coach, was about to expose corruption in one of two books due to be published was incorrect, his co-authors [said]… There was “nothing incriminating” in the manuscript of Woolmer’s autobiography… [Link]

Shields had said previously that Woolmer had received death threats. [Link]

Was the killer the kind of cricket fanatic who damaged Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s house after the loss to Bangladesh? Or was it a hitman hired by a match-fixing bookie?