Corrupt or inept.

Unless they catch the killer in record time which everyone reading PRESS reports believes is so easy, they are bound to be tarnished with one of those brushes!!

West Indian people are used to those tags.

Well he is highly though of in Scotland Yard and has a good track record around England.

Moving to Jamaica on a long term secondment and being appointed a Deputy Police Commissioner is NOT a cushy job. Potentially more threatening to one's health than ANY Police job in Britain.

I have to say if I were from the West Indies I'd be pretty hacked off by this criticism.

People get murdered in every city in every country. You can't say it would only happen there.

I have only heard things from the England's side perspective but there have only been positive things said about the grounds and practice conditions they have used.

Regarding the attendencies, this is a question of economics, its not a reflection on the enthusiasm of the locals.

The gripe about the weather is pretty unfair; I don't know what the organisers are meant to do about that. Also as far as I'm aware no games have been abandoned yet have they?

You're quite right. I was just being tongue in cheek about the man himself, who seems to fond of himself.
With all the gun crime in Jamaica, it's certainly no easy job.

__________________
Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi

I don't think we can blame the West Indies Woolmers death, as for your comments on security there should have been guidlines from the ICC - I am not saying they are to be blamed either for Woolmers death, what I am saying is that the ICC don't seemed to have learned anything from the last World Cup.

__________________
Ern

I think until people know the actual particulars of Woolmer's death, I think we should all refrain from apportioning blame in addition to spreading rumours.

Not only have I hardly posted on this subject, in the posts I have not put the blame on anyone, and certainly have not spouted any rumours. I do however think that in the LAST World Cup the ICC did not takes the threats to the England team members seriously, I know you think the threats from group amounted to nothing, but I wonder what the players thought they were flying into.

IMO the ICC should advise host countries on the levels of security needed, Bian Lara I believe was on the same Floor as Woolmer, amongst others - with so many cricket stars concentated in one hotel, security should have been at the top of the agenda.

Looks like a crank with a grudge over Pakistan losing could have roamed free.

My only point being that the ICC should know that there is a threat in cricket for different reasons, and IMO they don't seem to have learned one thing from the last World Cup.

I remember a group of high profile people together in one hotel, and that hotel was in Brighton.

EDIT: I also believe this World Cup has been as well run as any, and everyone involved have done their absolute best in difficult circumstances.

__________________
Ern

I think it is unfair to presume this World Cup has been a failure.

Poor weather can't really be blamed for anything, With climate change having on impact, you cannot predict the weather. Plus, the ICC wanted the event to take place during spring in the carribean. If it was summer than their would bevirtually no rain.

Poor Stadiums? Considering the West Indies are not what you call the richest area in the world and hurricanes have destroyed and damaged some of the grounds, they have done pretty well. The grounds aren't up to the standards of Australia or Indian stadiums if you are referring to capacity, but they still have spaces (which relates to the next topic) As far as facilities are conscerned, I have not used any there as I have not been, but they look alright to me.

Low attendances are due to the ICC I think who charge high prices for tickets with a local popualation who are mostly working class and cannot afford these prices. Plus, matches like Canada v Kenya or Scotland v Netherlands don't sound the most appealing to me. One of the Sky commentators said it himself..."ICC have got it wrong charging so much for the tickets."

The Bob Woolmer murder thing is unfortunate, but can you blame the West Indies again? No. Not everyday do you have a cricket team coach murdered in your hotel after they are embarressed by lower opposition. Do you really think the people who were meant to be security have ever encountered something this bizarre?
Plus, the murder mystery to the poster seems very simple. I mean if the poster can figure out how to solve the case with (as far as I know) no experience at solving reallife murder cases or ever being involved in any thing like this than the professionals who do it as a living must be able to do it easily. Wrong. There is more than what meets the eye in this case. Obviously it is tricky and perhaps the police don't want to reveal any findings as this is so publicised than maybe the killers will know whether they are close to being discovered or not. I don't know, but I am sure the professionals are as close as anyone can get to solving this.

World cup a failure? I think not. We have had some competitive cricket, great games, record breaking bowling or batting and some brilliant moments. How many world cups do you know of which have had a team ranked 16th beat a team ranked 4th? Or 6 sixes in 1 over? Or 4 wickets in 4 balls (in a row for those smart-alecs)?

It has been a great world cup and let us hope it gets better. I mean, do we really want to host world cups in 3 or 4 different countries? No, lets have this tournament held in all the top 8 teams and maybe in the future, some of the lower teams...

__________________
Bill Ponsford - The only one who could play in Bradman’s company and make it a duet.

I agree - the World Cup has been far from failure, in fact the game between South Africa though low scoring was one of the best WC games, plus you get rain from time to time anywhere.

This World Cup has had the gloss to off it though, that can't be denied - nothing to do with the West Indies First the unfortunate incident with Flintoff (from an England point of view).

The death of Bob Woolmer is bound to cast a shadow over this tournament, the fact is - what happened, did happen.

Neither the fault of the WI authorities, nor the ICC come to that - but I do think massive security has to be an issue in the future, the writing was on the wall IMO during the last World Cup that things can go wrong.

I don't know who murdered Bob Woolmer, nor do I know why he was murdered - I don't blame anyone, I just think after the last World Cup and the Zimbawe and England affair, security might have been at the top of the agenda.
But Englands problems in the previous World Cup were trivialised IMO, I doubt the Woomer affair will be.

As for the rest of the World Cup - I hope any further shocks will be confined to England, or indeed Ireland winning the World Cup in the West Indies.

__________________
Ern

I have to agree to this. The lack of crowds and the unique, colourful Caribbean atmosphere with its costumes, drums, horns, singing and dancing is what I was hoping to see and thanks to the draconian security measures, that aspect is missing. It is still not too late to improve that bit of the tourmament for what's left of it.