OTD | Former England player Bob Woolmer was born in 1948

On this day, back in 1948, English star cricketer Bob Woolmer was born, who has taken his side to the pinnacle of the level with his huge success during his cricketing days. The star cricketer has played 19 Test matches and 6 ODIs, while scoring 1059 and 21 runs with four and nine wickets, respectively, in his professional career.

Speaking about his early life, the English star cricketer was born in Kanpur, India, and his father, Clarence Woolmer, also played for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy games. However, after some time, his family shifted to England, where he joined the Kent School, which identified his cricketing talent and converted him from an off-spinner to a medium-paced bowler.

Woolmer initially played for county championships, which helped him make his Test debut against Australia back in 1975. He took a hat-trick in his first Test against Australia, which was played at the iconic MCG. Following the same, the great seamer got the opportunity to make himself available in the ODIs for his national side.

However, after his international career, the star cricketer moved to South Africa, where he served as the coach. Notably, he was the coach when Proteas won the 1998 Knockout Trophy, and in the same year, the side won the gold medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. After that, he again returned to England, where he coached the Kent and Warwickshire County Cricket Club and helped the side win the NatWest Trophy in 1993.

After some time, Woolmer was appointed as the coach of the Pakistan team in 2004, when Javed Miandad was sacked when they suffered a 1-2 Test loss and a 2-3 ODI loss against arch-rivals India on their home soil.

Meanwhile, Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room on March 18, 2007, in Jamaica, it was just one day after Pakistan were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup and three days before the final game. The initial reports say that he died due to a heart attack; however, further investigation revealed that he was murdered, as indicated by the pathologist’s report. However, his cause of death is still unknown.

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