Bob's our uncle!

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Here''s an interesting analogy, round the wicket and pitched just ahead of Sunday''s India-Pakistan encounter at the ICC Cricket Championship in England. If Pakistan owes their recent ODI success against India to their new coach Bob Woolmer, the man in question feels eternally grateful to his Kanpur connection which he claims is reportedly helping him ''communicate better'' with the largely Urdu-speaking Pakistani side.<br /><br />Very few people would be aware that the former England cricketer was born at a hospital located bang opposite the test match grounds in Kanpur — on May 14, 1948 to be precise — and spent the early days of his life in the city. His father C S Woolmer had been working in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and India since 1936 and was in the Indian army during the Second World War. Investigations made by <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Lucknow Times</span> reveal that the Sr Woolmer even captained the Uttar Pradesh (known as United Province previously) Ranji team in the late forties, though, unlike his accomplished son, his record doesn''t have much to write home about.<br /><br />Playing against Maharashtra in the quarter final of a Ranji Trophy match (1949) held at the Modi stadium in his hometown Kanpur, C S Woolmer could score just 15 and 1 before he was done in by Dhanawade in both the innings.<br /><br />Maharashtra won the match by an innings and 174 runs. Of course, Bob who was just nine months old at that time, doesn''t remember the match, but he does have faint memories of playing <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">gulli</span> cricket in Kanpur.<br /><br />The little bit of Hindi which Bob picked here during his childhood days is now standing him in good stead in his new role across the border.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />"Communication is not rocket science, but it''s still a key word. Most of the guys in the Pakistan team do not understand English, so I talk to them in Urdu, which, I think, is no different from Hindi which they used to speak in Kanpur," recalls Bob, who''s contemplating buying an Urdu-English guide to further improve his vocabulary.<br /><br />Since the average education level of the Pakistan team is below graduation, PCB officials were initially quite reluctant to dump Javed Miandad for Bob when the home team lost both the test and one-day series against India early this year. "It''s not that we had doubts over Woolmer''s capabilities. He is arguably brought one of the most talented coaches in world cricket. But after our failed experience with Richard Pybus, we were not too sure how a foreign coach would relate to Pakistani cricketers. But now that Bob has bridged the language barrier, I don''t see there would be any problem on the communication front," a PCB official said recently.<br /><br />While the Pakis may not have any problem, Bob''s ''communication skills'' are likely to ruffle the feathers of ICC yet again. When he was the coach of the South African team, Bob was admonished for communicating with skipper Hanse Cronje through a concealed microphone during a World Cup match. Seven years after that infamous incident, Bob has once again urged international cricket authorities to allow him to have better on-ground communication with the team captain.<br /><br />"You have to allow this contribution from the coach. Otherwise what is he there for– to pick balls, lay down the stumps, give catching practice and ensure that drinks and towels are in place?" Bob Woolmer queried.<br /><br />Now that''s what you call pulling the wool-mer over the eyes!</div> </div>