On "1996" tour, Gary Kirsten hated India

NEW DELHI: Quiz question: Which South African cricketer wrote the following words for a journal in his 1996-97 India tour dairy: "62 days in a country where westernised living conditions are regarded a luxury is no task for the faint-hearted."Answer: Gary Kirsten.
In fact, his tour diary indicates that the former opening batsman had problems with almost every aspect of the Indian condition: food, socializing, travelling.The tour diary was published in the December 1996-January 1997 issue of SA Cricket Action. Kirsten also wrote that "to spread cricket to all corners of India, we played in what could politely be classed as one-horse towns, places with more cows on the street than cars."For the record, the South Africans played one-day games in Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Faridabad, Rajkot, Guwahati and Mumbai. The Tests were played at Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Kanpur."I'll never forget arriving in Rajkot — laughter broke out in the bus when we were told we had reached our hotel, yet there didn't seem to be one in sight. It was actually above another building... A sense of humour is a necessity on this tour," wrote Kirsten. One wonders how the present BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who hails from Rajkot, would react to that.Kirsten, who has been offered a two-year term with a package similar to Greg Chappell's, had also cribbed about the unavailability of direct flights to a playing destination..

"Bob Woolmer" Inquest Fails to Determine How Cricket Coach Died

Nov. 29 (Mr.Khan News) -- A Jamaican coroner's inquest into the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup in March failed to determine what killed him, the sport's governing body said.An 11-member jury, which heard testimony from more than 50 witnesses over five weeks in Kingston, returned an open verdict yesterday after finding insufficient evidence of a criminal act or death by natural causes.Woolmer was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan exited the World Cup in an upset loss to Ireland. The inquest was opened after Jamaican police said in June that the 58-year-old Briton died of natural causes, reversing its initial assessment that he was murdered.``It is important to note that, following an exhaustive police investigation, no credible evidence has been produced to prove that there was any foul play connected to Bob's death,'' the International Cricket Council said in a statement.

Four days after Woolmer's death, police began a homicide investigation following a local pathologist's assessment that he'd been strangled. Police examined closed-circuit TV pictures, quizzed Pakistan players and other hotel guests and hired cricket anti-corruption officers to investigate whether his death was linked to match-fixing.``It should also be noted that extensive investigations by the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit found no evidence of match-fixing or corruption of any kind related in this case,'' the Dubai-based ICC added.During earlier testimony in the coroner's inquest, which began Oct. 16, Jamaican pathologist Ere Sheshiah said Woolmer died of pesticide poisoning and asphyxia, Agence-France Presse said. Pathologists from the U.K., Canada and South Africa concluded that Woolmer died from natural causes, most likely heart disease, the ICC said.Woolmer, a former England batsman, suffered from diabetes and had put on weight since taking the Pakistan job in 2004. Blood, vomit and diarrhea were found on the walls and floor of his hotel bedroom and bathroom, Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner, said at the start of the investigation. .