Bob Woolmer

London: Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, who was put up in the next room to slain coach Bob Woolmer in Jamaica Pegasus, is pained at not being able to help his coach at “such a difficult time”.

“I feel so sorry that I was unable to do anything at such a difficult time for Bob,” Kaneria said.

“He was a great coach. It’s a great personal loss to me and a tragedy for Pakistan,” he added.

Recalling the fateful Sunday morning when Woolmer was found unconscious in the hotel in Jamaica, Kaneria said, “The final moments are very painful memories. I was the only player staying on the same floor as Bob. I woke up at 9.30, had breakfast at 10, nothing was wrong at that stage.

“I spoke to my family and wife, then I was going to my friend’s room when I saw medical staff, my manager and police. After that it all happened,” Kaneria was quoted as saying by a website.

Kaneria said being the 12th man in the Pakistan-Ireland match, he had conversed with Woolmer, who was visibly depressed.

“The last time I saw Bob was when we were on the bus after the game. My last conversation with him was during the Ireland game as I was the 12th man. He was feeling very depressed and down,” he said.

Kaneria

“That defeat hurt us so much and would have hurt him very much also. He kept telling us during the tournament ‘we have to win the World Cup’. We are all so sorry that it didn’t work out that way,” Kaneria said.

All rounder Shahid Afridi said he was feeling very low and subdued after Woolmer’s death.

“It feels like a part of your body is missing, like your father has been taken away,” he told a radio station.

“It seems like a nightmare. It doesn’t seem to be ending, it’s one thing after another,” he said, referring to the defeat by Ireland, Woolmer’s death and the subsequent investigation.