CWC 2007 will go on – Speed

The ICC Chief Executive Officer, Malcolm Speed is insisting that the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 will go on, despite new revelations about the cause of death of the coach of Pakistan, Robert ‘Bob’ Woolmer.
His statement comes in the wake of speculation that as a result of the news of Mr. Woolmer’s death being treated as a murder, the ICC CWC 2007 will be discontinued.
“That will not be the case. The matches have continued since Sunday [March 18] and they will continue tomorrow. We are all very pleased with the Pakistan team’s play against Zimbabwe yesterday [March 21] in a fine way and the matches will continue,” he said at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus on March 22.
Mr. Speed was among five panelists, which included Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mark Shields and Chris Dehring, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the ICC CWC West Indies 2007 Inc., who were present at a press conference revealing the official post mortem report from the government pathologist, who conducted the autopsy on the late Mr. Woolmer.
“There are people working on this ICC CWC for years and people have been trained for this event for years and there are also volunteers in each of the nine countries in which we play who are committed to it and we will continue with it and finish it as strongly as we can,” he stressed.
Mr. Speed said that over the next few days, fans would have the opportunity to see that there are a number of good cricket matches which would be played and as such, the ICC focus would now be on these matches.
“It is a challenge for the game to face up to this and be resolute and to be strong to finish the Cricket World Cup in good spirit. From time to time, I am sure that all of the participants will reflect on what has happened here and we will do that in shock and great sadness. But, perhaps it will be a measure of the game and its resolve as to how well we can complete this event in view of this shock,” he said.
He also pointed out that the ICC would assist the Jamaican police in the investigation in Coach Woolmer’s death, which was due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation.
“We have had a huge shock and we will continue to support the Jamaican police in any way possible. We believe that our teams will continue to support the Jamaican police and any other investigators involved in any way possible,” he informed.
Mr. Speed said that the ICC was being kept abreast of the progress made by the police on the case. “These things we know do not happen quickly. We have to pay a lot of attention to detail and there is a lot of work to be carried out and we are very pleased with the co-operation of the Pakistan team today [March 22],” he said.
“They had a very difficult day, and on top of leaving the Cricket World Cup, they were subjected to questioning and fingerprinting and they were very co-operative and we are very pleased with that,” Mr. Speed added.