Vale Spanky

The ABC are reporting that Peter Roebuck has died in South Africa, aged 55. Sounds a bit sudden, no further details yet.

That is a tremendous shock.

A very difficult man to like, but that's way too young to go.

Presumably a sudden cardiac death, or not natural at all? It's very sudden. You can't imagine that he would have travelled to South Africa for this series if he knew that he was unwell.

Yeah, I think a heart attack would have to be a leading contender, unless he had suddenly taken over the Pakistan coaching position.

He could turn out some of the best cricketing prose in the game, a talent he often squandered to propagate a lot of pompous nonsense. But for all his faults he was still one of the personalities of the game.

Well, he will have died a happy man, after that last match.

Fark me.

One report said he was spoken to by police earlier in the day so either:

1) he was caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing and couldn't bare the shame; or

2) Mugabe's men finally got to him

JGK wrote:Fark me.

One report said he was spoken to by police earlier in the day ... ? ... he was caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing and couldn't bare the shame

'bear' ... an accidental pun on your part?

this is what I meant when I wondered 'not natural at all' ... he always seemed depressive and narcissistic ...

Actually I blame you for this, JGK. Did you choose him in the 2011 celebrity death thread? No? I rest my case.

Lost for words.

When his bias was not evident, he was most astute and elegant writers in the world.

What do you mean by Mugabe's men? I vaguely remember an article he wrote on Zimbabwe, but I sure as hell don't remember it as controversial enough to warrant murder.

We are also coming up to the 10th anniversary of Cronje's death. These two incidents are very emotionally unsettling. Cricket should be enjoyed, but this is distressing stuff.

lardbucket wrote: You can't imagine that he would have travelled to South Africa for this series if he knew that he was unwell.

Did'nt he live in SA?

I spent a fair while talking to Roebuck at a dinner about 18 months ago. One of te things he said was that he would be killed if he tried to go to Z given the many criticisms he had written about Mugabe over the years. He said he was also often warned not to go to Saf by his Zimbabwean friends.

I'm just speculating of course but if he really did talk to the police earlier in the day, the whole thing looks a lot more suspicious, hence my 2 scenarios.

Wow, a great shock.

I certainly didn't agree with everything he wrote, but you couldn't help but admire his flowing writing skills.

RIP.

A couple of cricket journos hinting on twitter that they wouldn't be surprised if it was suicide. "A brilliant and tortured man" said one.

dire news...RIP...like others I enjoyed his passion for the gane and his writing

Blimey.

Didn't admire his writing (or to be more exact, his attitudes), or his way of dealing with cricketers, but that's neither here nor there.

Another shock. Another one gone young (by modern standards).

His final column was pretty damning of the Aussie team.







And this will hit Red's post output hard as well.....

It's all a bit Bob Woolmer.

They covered it at the start of the 'Offsiders'. The way Gideon and co. were talking about him being a pariah etc. seemed to point at suicide. Had he had a heart attack, you'd imagine they would have said sudden and tragic death but it did point to death by his hand the way they were talking.

He did live in South Africa btw, near KP's birth place. They were just saying on 'Grandstand' how much he liked living there but he was positively vitriolic when it came to Mugabe's regime.

BTW I haven't linked to one of his articles for a while though I did enjoy his insights into the game. His prose was eloquent which counterbalanced the many banal offerings dominating the papers.

Ian O'brien summed it up perfectly-

"We all love an opinion, and cricket has lost a great polariser."

As far as I know, this was his final column-

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/selectors-have-to-make-tough-calls-20111112-1nd2r.html

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226193735099


Ongoing police investigation according to this.

geebus

The link to the Oz doesnt work.

But I assume it is the Lalor article with suggestions Roebuck wasseen as being agitated before police visited him in the hotel room.

Goodness this sounds terrible.

Paul Keating wrote:The link to the Oz doesnt work.

But I assume it is the Lalor article with suggestions Roebuck wasseen as being agitated before police visited him in the hotel room.

Goodness this sounds terrible.

Yes, and it was just confirmed on the ABC news that he was seen in 'an agitated state' and he'd been to dinner with a friend. It does sound a bit dicey. It doesn't sound like a natural death and at 55 he's died 'with words in him'.