Before joining as coach, Lawson receives a letter

SYDNEY: Former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer’s widow has sent a personal letter to his successor Geoff Lawson reassuring him not to fear his new position at the helm of affairs, ahead of his departure for Lahore on August 21.

“It’s a lovely letter about how he loved coaching Pakistan,  loved the people and she (Gill) wished me all the best,’’ Lawson said.

“It comforted me in the fact (Woolmer’s family) gave me their support and they don’t have any concerns whatsoever,’’ he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Although ‘congratulations’ poured in after he cornered the job, many questioned the logic behind his accepatance of the offer. “The amount of people who have said to me congratulations, but you’re mad.’’

The newly-appointed coach even says he would have been more concerned over going to London and New York than Pakistan.

‘’There are less concerns than I’d have going to London or New York. I was in England in 2005 when all the bombs went off, and that was scary.”

He defended his decision to shift base to Pakistan, saying “(People) see the Red Mosque shootout there and hear about Bin Laden hiding in the hills of Pakistan. But it’s like if you’re hiding in outback Australia and you live in Sydney.”

Lawson also expressed surprise at the Aussie hockey team’s decision to not tour Pakistan. “The Australian hockey team decided not to go, I find that astonishing.

As sportspeople in Australia are revered, sportspeople in the sub-continent are deities almost. If you’re involved in sport, that’s the safest situation to be in.’’

He had already accepted the two-year post with Pakistan when he received a letter from Woolmer’s widow, Gill, who is based in South Africa. 

Asked whether the bungled investigation into Woolmer’s death at this year’s World Cup concerned him, Lawson replied, ‘’You look through that stuff and you do wonder why the Jamaican authorities came out (and said it was murder).

It was only their initial announcement that got people in a tizz about the whole thing. Why couldn’t they solve it? Because no one did it.’’

However, there are wider security issues in Pakistan. The Department of Foreign Affairs is still warning Australians to reconsider travel to Pakistan due to the high threat of terrorist attack, sectarian violence and the unpredictable security situation.

But a Cricket Australia delegation has just returned from a security mission to Pakistan, confident Australia’s first tour of the country in 10 years will go ahead next March.

The new coach, however, wasn’t always tolerant of Pakistan.

He toured there in 1980, didn’t play a Test and admitted he counted down the days until he left. Just months earlier, Russia had invaded Afghanistan.

Lawson recalled escorts by military jets, tanks lining runways, soldiers on the streets and the Australian team bunking in spartan army barracks.

On his next tour of Pakistan in 1982, Lawson said he refused to let things get him down. He survived the three-Test tour on a diet of Vegemite on naan bread with black coffee, lost 8kg and arrived home with dengue fever. But he’d been Australia’s player of the series.

Lawson said he now loves visiting the sub-continent and he is reading The History of Islamic Society. On Shoaib Akhtar, he said ‘’He’s going to be a big part of the success of that team. He’s very enthusiastic. We’ve had a few phone calls back and forth over the last couple of weeks.’’