Mar 23, 2007, 14:59 GMT
Islamabad - Shock in Pakistan at the death of national cricket coach Bob Woolmer and the team's World Cup defeat in Jamaica deepened Friday after police said he was murdered and players were kept from returning home.
Team members were questioned and fingerprinted and were now due to head home at the weekend or early next week to an uncertain reception by fans enraged at the humiliation by the Irish team last Saturday.
'This has been a doomsday for Pakistani cricket, its days are over,' shopkeeper Ehsan Khattak said in the capital Islamabad.
Woolmer, 58, died last Sunday after he was found unconscious in his hotel room in Kingston. Jamaican police said late Thursday that a pathology report confirmed he died 'due to asphyxiation by manual strangulation.'
Pakistani players were questioned but not under caution as police tried to ascertain his movements in his final hours, officials stressed.
Players and team officials will also be swabbed for DNA later Friday by police as a routine exercise.
A Pakistani diplomat was to fly from Washington to Jamaica to assist the police, the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said.
Citing sources on the island, Hamid Mir, Islamabad bureau chief of Pakistan's Geo news channel, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that a suspect was arrested in connection with the murder.
But Jamaica's deputy police commissioner, Mark Shields, rejected reports of an arrest, telling the BBC: 'I don't know where that's come from. That's nonsense.'
Mir, a prominent investigative journalist, also told New Delhi Television (NDTV) that police hoped phone numbers stored in a confiscated mobile phone would provide vital clues.
The man in custody was also said to have contacted Indian and Sri Lankan team members, prompting speculation of a broader conspiracy, it was reported.
Rumours that Woolmer may have been involved in match fixing intrigues drew disbelief at home.
'Throughout the time I spent with him, we have never talked about anything related to match fixing,' former Pakistani cricketer and coach Haroon-ur-Rasheed told the channel.
'This is a great loss to cricket and if at some stage (match fixing) is proven, it will be a great tragedy for the game, which has long been a transparent sport,' he added.
Woolmer used to say he took his job in Pakistan as a challenge to explore why such a talented team could not perform consistently, Rasheed said.
But according to Pakistani Cricket Board Chairman Nasim Ashraf, the coach said in an email sent shortly before he died that he might step down after Pakistan's poor performance in recent months.
Despite the police inquiry, there were no suspicions against the Pakistani team in the murder, he told journalists in the northern city of Peshawar.
Ashraf submitted his resignation to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the beginning of the week but has not yet been discharged from the post.
The national selection committee also resigned, while Inzamam-ul-Haq quit as team captain and announced his retirement from one-day cricket.
Meanwhile, fans were glum about the country's cricketing prospects.
'Woolmer was a marvellous coach, but the team did not play well,' said shopkeeper Khattak, adding that at least half of the players should be replaced. 'If authorities cannot select 11 players among a population of 160 million then it is down to their inability.'
'It's shocking, there is no life left in the Pakistani cricket team,' said teenage enthusiast Khawar Khan.
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