LAHORE, 1 April 2007 — Pakistan will send two senior investigators to Jamaica to observe or assist in the investigation of the death of its coach Bob Woolmer, a top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

“These two investigators will fly out to Jamaica tomorrow,” PCB Chairman Naseem Ashraf said. The Pakistan cricket chief said since the Jamaican authorities had also sought the assistance of Scotland Yard, the two Pakistani investigators could be there in Jamaica as observers.

“If we can’t assist, these investigators would remain there as observers,” Ashraf said, adding the country’s Interior Ministry had selected the investigators for this purpose. The 58-year-old coach was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room on March 18 and pronounced dead at a hospital on the morning after his team’s elimination from the Cricket World Cup in a surprising loss to Ireland.

The PCB official said that he was “100 percent” sure that no Pakistani player was involved in the death of Woolmer.

“But we should know the real cause of his death,” he added. The PCB chief said that if the Jamaican authorities wanted to question Pakistani players again, it would be with the assistance of lawyers. “If they called up any of our players again, it would not be without legal experts,” Ashraf said.

PCB Suspends Players’ Contracts,

to Examine Debacle

• The Pakistan Cricket Board suspended all players’ contracts yesterday following the country’s shocking exit from the World Cup and will replace them with performance-based arrangements, its chairman said.

“All players’ contracts stand suspended,” Ashraf told a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.

Ashraf, without naming any player, said no one, even the biggest stars, should think they can play for Pakistan without delivering performance.

The board will “introduce performance-based contracts very soon,” he said. “It’s not the time to panic and overreact,” Ashraf said. “I know people are angry and disgusted with the performance of the national team, but let me assure you that cricket is not going to die down in this country of 160 million.”

Pakistan’s next international assignment is the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September, and Ashraf said the cricket board has enough time to regroup after the debacle in the West Indies.

The cricket board has formed a three-member Performance Evaluation Committee to look into the causes of the defeats in the West Indies, he said. The committee — former Test players Ejaz Ahmed, Salahuddin Ahmed and Salim Altaf — will submit its report within the next 30 days, and it will be released publicly, Ashraf said. Ashraf said he believes the Pakistan players lacked mental toughness.

“We need to work upon this aspect as this is the most important area, through which most top teams win matches,” Ashraf said. Pakistan is also planning to hire a baseball coach from the United States to improve the national team’s fielding.

“The coach will be not be for three months or four months, we will hire him for at least one year,” Ashraf said.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer died March 18 — a day after Pakistan’s stunning three-wicket loss to unfancied Ireland — and Ashraf said Pakistan would now look for a Pakistani coach.

“It will take some time to find a suitable man,” Ashraf said.

He said the cricket board will not immediately replace Captain Inzamam ul-Haq, who stepped down after the World Cup elimination. “We don’t want to make a hasty decision, we will name the captain and vice-captain within 30 days,” Ashraf said. Ashraf also announced that 1 billion rupees ($16.6 million; 12.46 million) would be spent to develop cricket stadiums around the country, but didn’t specify over what period of time.