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Quotable:
"He was a very focused man with a great love for the game but what shone through was the great love he had for players under his charge, everyone meant something to him."
- Brian Lara
"He was a thorough gentleman who instilled team spirit in the team. He was a very popular personality in our cricket team."
- Naseem Ashraf
"Bob has ... been at the forefront of coaching for a long time. I think he's been a person who has certainly been outspoken on key issues, absolutely well-regarded by everybody, and from a coaching perspective, I think he's left a huge legacy that we can all follow. For all of us involved in cricket, it's a very, very sad day."
- John Buchanan.
"In the modern era, when coaches played a more important role in international cricket, Bob was in the top echelon. During the period that he was our coach between 1994 to 1999 he was unquestionably the outstanding coach in world cricket."
- Dr. Ali Bacher,
"He was a very, very close friend, actually more than as a coach.... He was a very respected man. Bob was an extremely professional man, was an extremely soft person, gave his life to cricket and probably paid for it."
- Allan Donald.
"He has left an indelible mark on the game that he loved and lived for."
- Greg Chappell.
What a sad day it was to hear of the death of Bob Woolmer. My last image of him was a man who had put everything he had to achieve success with the Pakistan cricket team, almost submissive after their disastrous defeat to Ireland. This was not a happy image for me and for some reason I keep going back to it. This was not how it was meant to end for Bob, not for someone who had given his life and soul to the game he truly loved. The script was written out - Bob would see out the World Cup and then retire to his home in Cape Town, where he could see out his remaining years in peace and happiness with his wife Gill and their children. He had also expressed a deep desire to set up his own academy. But that was not to be and we reflect back on a life filled with passion and enthusiasm for the game of cricket.
My first encounter with Bob was way back in 1986 when he was player/coach for the Avendale Cricket Club. I remember playing against him and thinking this was a streetwise cricketer. I remember saying to myself, watch him closely and you can learn a lot, especially the way he manipulates the ball around the cricket field. It was way back then that one could get a sense of Bob's remarkable ability to think out the box and to look at the game completely differently to the way everyone else was. As it turned out this became one of Bob's great strengths and "his way" became evident in the many successful teams he coached through the 90's and up until his passing away.
Bob took over as coach of the SA team in 1994 with our one day record floundering terribly. His highly successful 5 years as coach of the team could have ended prematurely as we headed off to Pakistan and returned without a win. But that is exactly what was required and it gave Bob the chance to impart his knowledge and thinking onto a team that was desperate for new ideas. As each one of us embraced Bob's ideas on how to play one day cricket, we began seeing the difference in our own games and as the confidence and belief grew, we started becoming a highly successful one day unit. His partnership with Hansie Cronje (captain) and Peter Pollock (convener) will, I believe for many years to come, remain one of the best combinations of people South African cricket has put together.
Bob could also be a very funny man and he certainly provided me with countless hours of entertainment and laughter on cricket tour as reminisced about his cricketing experiences, especially the characters he played with and against. His English humour was always there to see and when the opportunity presented itself he could put on a show that could really make us laugh, even at the expense of his own dignity.
I will remember Bob Woolmer for his absolute passion for the game of cricket. He left a tremendous legacy in this country and his commitment to passing on his knowledge to those less fortunate than himself, has provided me with a tremendous example.
Thank you Bob for your massive contribution to South African cricket. My thoughts and prayers go out to Gill and the Woolmer family as they deal with this most difficult time.
Gary
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