KARACHI, March 23: Former captain Rashid Latif suspects the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer at the World Cup in the Caribbean was carried out by someone with connections to an illegal international betting syndicate.

The 58-year-old died on Sunday after he was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room the morning after his side's shock defeat to Ireland sent them crashing out of the tournament in the first round.

On Thursday, Jamaican police launched a murder inquiry, saying the Englishman had been strangled.

Rashid, who exposed a match-fixing scandal in Pakistan 12 years ago that led to a life ban for former captain Salim Malik and fines for other players, said on Friday that Woolmer's murder could be linked to an illegal betting ring.

“I have always said cricket has never been cleansed of corruption despite the measures taken by the International Cricket Council (ICC),” Rashid said.

“They (the syndicates) were still active in fixing results of some matches. Whoever murdered Woolmer was clearly desperate or else he would not have been killed in the middle of a World Cup.”

Rashid said he had written a letter to the ICC anti-corruption unit four years ago informing the sport's governing body that bookies were still ‘fancy fixing’ matches.

“I wrote the letter when I was captain of the Pakistan team in England and I told them about my suspicions that some fixing was going.” he said.

“The same month they met with me and I reiterated my fears to them. I also offered to dummy fix a match for them through known contacts in the market to confirm fancy fixing was going on.”

Rashid explained that fancy fixing involved taking bets on every ball of the match.

Meanwhile, former South Africa pace bowler Allan Donald says cricket will be rocked for years by the murder of Woolmer.

There is widespread speculation that Woolmer's death might be connected to a “betting mafia” involved in match-fixing but Donald said he “would be gob-smacked if he was involved in anything to do with match-fixing or corruption.”

Woolmer was coach of South Africa from 1994-99, a period in which their late captain Hansie Cronje was implicated in match-fixing, but Donald, close to both men, dismissed a further connection.

“If anyone suggested Bob had anything to do with bookmakers or match-fixing I'd say they were talking rubbish,” he said.

“There have been rumours that Bob might have received death threats in the past and there's no doubt fans from Pakistan and India are fanatical,” he told Britain's Sun tabloid before the confirmation that Woolmer had been murdered.

“The only possible link I could see to match-fixing is that someone who lost a lot of money misguidedly sought revenge on Bob.

“It would be enormous if he was murdered, just an incredible shock. If foul play was the cause then cricket will be rocked for months and years to come.”

Pakistan have been eliminated from the World Cup after their shock defeat by Ireland last weekend but Donald said Woolmer would have been philosophical about the setback.

“Defeats and bad results just didn't affect him in the same way they did some people,” he said.

The paceman said Woolmer had been hugely supportive in the aftermath of South Africa's excruciating defeat by Australia in the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup when Donald was run out off the last ball.

“Bob tried to calm us down. 'We've only lost a game of cricket,' he kept telling us, and he was right of course.

“Bob was very close to me for the majority of my cricketing career. When his wife rang me to break the news I was ice cold.

“He was extremely professional, extremely soft. He gave his life to cricket and probably paid for it with his life.”—Reuters