Bob Woolmer, by the Warwickshire players who knew him
Interviews: George Dobell
Bob Woolmer began his coaching career at Kent, in 1987 but it was his spell as Warwickshire coach, from 1991, that cemented his name as one of the game’s great innovators. His side, captained by Dermot Reeve, won the NatWest Trophy in 1993 and followed it up with an unprecedented treble in 1994, taking the County Championship, the Sunday league and the Benson and Hedges Cup.
Paul Smith (All-rounder) It was a big deal for us when Bob arrived. But it was a big deal for him, too. He had spent a brief and quite successful spell coaching at Kent, but he didn’t have a proven record. The backing from his old friend Dennis Amiss had been crucial to get him to Edgbaston.
Bob didn’t end his playing career with a lot of money. He’d organised events for his benefit that didn’t work out; it hurt him financially. After that he picked up bits and pieces of coaching work in South Africa. It was obvious he was passionate about what he was doing; very few people would have gone to the lengths he did to learn their trade.
Dermot Reeve (captain) When he arrived at Edgbaston I realised I’d finally met the only other guy in the world who never got bored with cricket talk. We were two soul mates in love with the game. We would go out to dinner and talk about the game for hours. We might arrive at TGI Fridays at 7pm and, come midnight, we were still talking about how to get Trevor Penney playing the reverse sweep, or how to get a bit more out of Dominic Ostler. Bob was always planning; always thinking about how to take our game forward. He was never happy with the status quo. He wanted the game to be moving forward and he wanted to improve himself and the team all the time.
Smith In the past, we would train in the morning and then drift off to the pub. But Bob would train with us then organise individual nets for us whenever it was required. It could be 7am or 7pm.
Nearly everyone bought into the extra work because he made it fun. He explained why we were doing what we were doing and made us see what the results could be. Until he arrived I felt my career was slipping away a day at a time. Under him, I thought we could win trophies and in 1994 we enjoyed the most successful season in the county’s history. If we had won the toss in one more game I think we’d have won all four trophies.
It was when Reeve was appointed captain in ’93 that things really began to happen. The pair talked and planned all the time and instilled that attitude in the rest of the squad. They were like two little boys, infatuated with the game, and they were brilliant at communicating their enjoyment, their enthusiasm and their ideas.
One of the first things Bob suggested was a team song. I suggested Kokomo by the Beach Boys and we played it – and sang it –everywhere we went. We were a fun side and they were fun times.
Reeve If I had to pick one thing that he brought in, it was the premeditated way we played spin bowling in one-day cricket. Our seamers conceded runs at almost exactly the rate of our opponents’ seamers. But while our spinners went for around 3.6 an over, we scored about six an over off their’s.
Much of that was due to the sweep, both conventional and reverse. Until then it was accepted that you played spin by coming down the wicket, but Bob helped us prove there was another way that you could pick out gaps in the field. It was a key ingredient in our success and has changed the way spin is played in the game today.
Smith We tried anything and everything. We worked out that sucking extra-strong mints meant our saliva helped the ball swing more. Certain spices in curry did the same thing. He used to judge Allan Donald’s rhythm by listening, with his eyes closed, to the sound of Allan’s feet as he ran in to bowl.
He had already spent time with [sports scientist] Dr Tim Noakes and had learned about diet and hydration as well as the importance of body position and the important of properly focused training; not just star jumps on concrete floors. He pretty much put a stop to the drinking culture that had developed at the club.
Reeve Not everything he suggested worked. We conceded more than 300 in a one-day game against Surrey. I had just done my team talk and then said, “anything to add, Bob?” “Yes,” he said. “Let’s take the pressure off. Let’s go out there as if we’re batting first and not think about the target.” We tried it; and after a while the openers had settled in nicely – but we needed nine an over. “That didn’t really work,” I said to him at the end. “No,” he agreed.
Tim Munton (vice-captain) We underperformed in 1993. We had loads of injuries and finished 16th in the championship. But the NatWest win at the end of the season was very important. It gave us belief and momentum that we carried into 1994.
Smith Had we not won the ’93 NatWest final, Bob may well have got the sack. After Sussex scored 321 his job must have been hanging by a thread. But even then I felt we could win and when we did so it taught us a lot about ourselves. We won for Bob. We definitely worked harder because we wanted him to stay. He had created an atmosphere where people wanted to learn and we knew we were on the brink of something special.
Reeve It was never all about winning. We had a great spirit in the dressing room before we started winning. Games come and go, but self-esteem is with you for life. Players don’t earn self-esteem by winning; they earn it by performing at their best. The job for me and Bob was to create an environment where players could thrive. We played with fun.
Smith I didn’t think of Bob as a laptop coach. That came later. But what he did like was video analysis. I’m not aware of anyone doing that before him. “You can’t argue with what’s on the screen,” he used to say. Long after we went home he would be watching videos of practice sessions, previous games or, if available, footage of our opposition. He worked damn hard. One day, he insisted I bat in the nets using very old, soft balls. It made timing the ball extremely difficult. After about five minutes I told him it was a waste of time. He told me that the next game was away, and likely to be played on a very slow surface, offering little bounce. He asked me to mentally start my practice from the next delivery I faced. Over the next 10 minutes I played a blinder, consistently striking the ball cleanly. When we played the game, I blazed their attack to all parts, because of the seed that my coach had planted.
Michael Powell (Captain during Woolmer’s second spell at Edgbaston (2000-2002)) When you were with him you felt 10 feet tall. He showed us how to do things we didn’t think we could do. He was an inspiration. I was lucky to have worked with him. In fact I was lucky just to have known him.
Reeve It galls me to hear people linking Bob to match-fixing. I am absolutely convinced that he didn’t have anything to do with it. And everybody who knew him well will agree.
Smith There’s no way he was involved in match-fixing. No way. He was in love with the game. He was steeped in its spirit from the moment his father placed a tiny bat and ball in his cot and wished that the game would be his life. Bob would never have done anything to detract from the game he loved.
He should have been England coach. They offered him an interview right before the semi-final of the World Cup in 1999. He couldn’t think about it then; it wouldn’t have been the honourable thing to do and would have suggested he wasn’t committed to South Africa. That was typical of him. And of the ECB… Ali Bacher waited until we’d won the treble before he approached Bob. We were celebrating in the hotel bar in Bristol when a call came through from Bacher. Bob asked for it to be put through to his room;
I knew then that we’d lost him. But I’m damn proud to have played a part in Bob’s first truly successful team. I believe we helped create a template for the way cricket is now played around the world. It doesn’t surprise me that even on that last day, when he must have been hurting because of Pakistan’s loss to Ireland, that he still took the time to praise Ireland. He was gracious even then. It guts me that he died in a hotel room miles away from home. He deserved better than that.
