Bob Woolmer died of natural causes

That Bob Woolmer wasn't murdered isn't good news as such - it's the absence of a very bad element of some bad news. Not cause for rejoicing, but everyone in cricket will appreciate that Woolmer's death has become something more commonplace. Now it's just very, very sad.

Mark Lawson (not the Yorkshire leg-spinner) wrote an interesting article about the media's increasing impatience and lack of need for demonstrable facts. To be fair, the police did say that it was murder. However, anything beyond that was pure supposition - and there was a lot beyond that.

We used to work for a local newspaper and even at that level reporters were very responsible about ensuring that anything published could be proven. We're always astounded by how more mainstream outlets weave great swathes of opinion within a factual report.

As a general rule of thumb, if a reporter says 'probably', 'possibly', 'perhaps' or 'maybe', just ignore anything to which this word relates. Unfortunately, many don't bother with such qualifiers any more, creating a certainty in their output that isn't warranted.

Bob Woolmer was murdered

This makes us feel a bit sick. This is the worst cricket news we can remember.

The post-mortem on Bob Woolmer's body has shown that he was strangled. The police believe that he may have known his killer or killers as he had let them into his hotel room. They also believe that it may have taken more than one person as Bob was a big man.

Our very first thought on hearing that Bob Woolmer had died was that it was murder. It came so soon after Pakistan had been knocked out of the World Cup that it didn't seem like coincidence. Then, immediately after that, a more rational part of our brain kicked in. It said: 'No matter what's at stake, that's unheard of - you're being ridiculous'.

But we weren't being ridiculous. That's what's happened. Whether it proves to be gambling-related, demented fanaticism or tied up in some power struggle that we can't begin to understand, this is horrific news for Bob's family. It is totally, utterly beyond comprehension and cricket will be in a state for decades.

We feel like closing down this site. How can you write about a sport where this can happen?