Woolmer, a classical batsman who played 19 tests for England during the late 1970s and early 1980s, pursued a successful coaching career with South Africa and Pakistan.

He was regarded as one of the most innovative thinkers in the game but was expected to part company with Pakistan after the World Cup final on April 28 even before his team's shock loss to Ireland on Saturday.

"The first time I knew of Bob's illness was when our assistant manager rang me Sunday morning and said the coach is not feeling well and maybe he is upset," said a shattered Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who later announced he was retiring from the one-day game.

"When I went to see him he was lying on the floor and it was shocking for me.

"I will never forget him. He was a very good coach and a super human being."

Woolmer's death overshadowed a second tumultuous day at the tournament after Ireland beat Pakistan and Bangladesh upset India on Saturday, although the results were predictable with Australia and England beating the Netherlands and Canada respectively.

Bob Woolmer's wife described yesterday the "incredible stress" that her husband had been under as coach of Pakistan.

Speaking to Britain's Daily Mirror, the ex-Warwickshire coach's wife, Gill, revealed the pressures placed on her husband as coach of the cricket-mad Pakistan.

"His job coaching there has been incredibly stressful," she said.

No official cause of death has yet been given, with Pakistan's media manager Pervez Mir saying: "We are waiting for medical reports."

But according to reports yesterday, the former England batsman suffered from diabetes and had recently experienced breathing difficulties.

Stressful job

His death highlighted once again the huge pressures associated with top-level sport.

Television pictures at the end of Pakistan's shock defeat by Ireland on Saturday showed a visibly upset Woolmer slamming shut his laptop and stuffing objects into a bag before storming out of the room.

South Africa team manager Goolam Rajah, however, said that Woolmer, with whom he worked closely for many years, generally coped with the stress of the job well.

"Like any coach he was never happy to lose a game," Rajah told reporters. "But he knew how to manage the process of defeat or adversity.

"Whenever things weren't going well he would be quite composed. He would sit and talk through things. He didn't believe in doing things by half measures, and he was disappointed by the defeat.

"But I would have thought that he would have come out of it quite strongly in a few days time, he was that type of man."

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Naseem Ashraf said Bob Woolmer's death was a "a loss for the cricketing world."

"He was a thorough gentleman who instilled team spirit in the team," Ashraf told Pakistani private channel Geo Television. "He was a very popular personality in our cricket team."

"He was a great cricket man. His life was devoted to cricket. He played, coached and commentated on the game all of his life," said International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed.

(China Daily via Agencies and AFP March 20, 2007)