RIP Peter Roebuck

I just heard this a minute ago... very sad news.

Regardless of our opinions of his controversial actions at Somerset, the incidents with the young cricketers and his strongly opinionated journalistic style - it is a tragic loss to the sport.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket-writer-peter-roebuck-dies-20111113-1ndg0.html

Shocking and sad news.

55 years is a young age.

I liked his opinions as a writer most of the time. More than his opinions, I liked his style and enjoyed reading his articles.

Yeah, me too Leff.

Although you wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him and be the subject of some scathing attack (if you were a player) - he was nonetheless a passionate cricketer, journalist and commentator and I found him quite a character and enjoyed hearing him rant on about things... not that I would agree with some of his controversial stances on certain subjects.

Peter decorated his thoughts, tangible or intangible, with delectable metaphors. He had a good sense of cricket history.

As a die-hard liberal myself, it could relate to his views, most of the time if not always.

Shocking stuff

RIP

Please tell me this isn't true ....

Somerset great. Dilley and now Roebuck, truly awful...

Read this if you haven't already. It's his style of writing that I most enjoyed about his articles.

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/caught-and-bowled-by-rancid-creed-of-greed-20111102-1mvr6.html

RIP Peter.

A passionate man who like us, loved his Cricket.

A man of strong opinion and gifted writing skills. .
A real loss for the game, and that too, at such an age.
RIP Roebuck.

very sad news R.I.P

It's reported as suicide. One commentator described him as a tortured, driven, soul.

Very sad.

I think he was always a tormented individual. Whilst many admired his achievements - on the cricket pitch and, even more, his writings -, I suspect few got to really know him.

I forget the full details (and don't feel like looking them up so soon after his death) but recall there was a lot of controversy and falling out when he captained Somerset. I haven't seen any comment as yet from Botham which may be significant.

Such a waste. Desperately sad.

Cricinfo has posted articles by Peter English and Sambit Bal - recollections of their interactions with Roebuck over the years.

I never met him in person, but I feel a knot in my stomach as I read about his life, his persona, and his end. For I realise I have some of those characteristics. I left England when I was 19 and have lived as many years in the US. I have always strived to have a global view and a desire to see myself as a part of the globe rather than a piece of land by birth. I have regarded the US as my home and the ones around me as my people. My wife would say, "It's perfectly OK to regard yourself English." Having a perennial introspective dialogue with yourself is perhaps an English way that I could never give up. A strong desire to have an independent view is a trait I couldn't give up. I had immense admiration for Steve Jobs and we lost him a few days ago. Roebuck was different, perhaps more flawed, and perhaps his impact on our daily life wasn't the same. Why do we feel this level of distress when we come to know of the loss of strangers in our lives? Kurt Cobain's death lingered on my mind for weeks; for days, his voice haunted me along my 6-mile jogs. We are reminded of our own flaws and vulnerabilities and life's uncertainties at times like this. These strangers remind us we are who we are - humans.

Leff wrote: We are reminded of our own flaws and vulnerabilities and life's uncertainties at times like this. These strangers remind us we are who we are - humans.

Makes you think....

The circumstances around his death aren't clear, other than that it seems like a suicide. Nevertheless, a compelling cricket writer, with a very exclusive style.

Another in the sadly long list of cricketers who have taken their own lives. By all accounts Roebuck was a superb writer but a private, somewhat tortured individual.
He couldn't have lacked courage as he was prepared to take on Botham, Richard and Garner in the 1980s Somerset saga. He did not mind, either, who he upset with his writing - an admirable trait amid much insipid, kowtowing in sports coverage.
It's all very sad.

RIP, a sad loss.

A letter from his adopted African son:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/peter-roebuck--a-tribute-from-his-first-african-son-20111114-1nfoa.html?rand=1321275330037

There was accusation from a 26-year old Zimbabwean man which led the police to interview him when the tragedy occurred.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/roebuck-in-a-state-of-despair-he-just-had-a-brain-snap--that-is-all-i-can-assume-20111114-1nfmw.html

Thanks for the links, Leff. The more I read about this the more strange and disturbing it all becomes - he seems to have been a deep and complex personality... a unique combination of exceptionally gifted, highly principled, very generous, and deeply flawed.

He sure was an enigmatic personality, Corporal. Emerging stories depict him as a caring and generous man, as you said, with some serious flaws.

Here is an update on why the police came to the hotel:

http://thenewage.co.za/34958-1007-53-Cricket_suicide_mystery

may Peter Roebuck rest in Peace.

a trio of mysterious deaths in that country.....Cronje, Woolmer and now Roebuck.
and it happened at the end of a bizzare test match

I will miss his writings.....literary and metaphorical....enjoyable as much for the style as for content.

Bob Woolmer died in Jamaica, anu_d.

Did anyone see Jim Maxwell's short interview recounting the phone call and the discussions with Peter and the detectives in the corridor? He said that it happened as they (policeman & JM) were talking out in the corridor (less than a minute after he had finished talking to Roebuck) and it would have taken at least 5 seconds to open the window to the balcony. There was only the other detective in the room at the time.

It's all a very sad sequence of events and I'm still shocked.

Linebreaker wrote:Bob Woolmer died in Jamaica, anu_d.

yes i stand corrected.....it was during the 2007 w'cup in WI.

he was south african....so the common link being SA eitehr nationals or in SA.

anu_d wrote:

Linebreaker wrote:Bob Woolmer died in Jamaica, anu_d.

yes i stand corrected.....it was during the 2007 w'cup in WI.

he was south african....so the common link being SA eitehr nationals or in SA.

I can see what you're trying to say. Yeah, I can think of a few untimely deaths in other sports too - but for me it's like a shattering of innocence (in my perception) of the sport - with the loss of these 3 people - and players like Ben Hollioake and David Hookes.

I dunno... maybe I'm being a bit naive in this modern world but there are some seriously dark undercurrents at play in all walks of life; not just in the world of cricket... and it's a little disturbing to be witnessing it all in (almost) real time. Anyway, that's how I feel.

(How are you by the way? I hope all is well. The old 606 seems like it was shut down ages ago - for me - but it's only about 6 months since we were all in full flight on there!)

Linebreaker wrote: (How are you by the way? I hope all is well. The old 606 seems like it was shut down ages ago - for me - but it's only about 6 months since we were all in full flight on there!)

606 was a great place and addictive.

almost intutively I looked for a replacement a few months after the closure....and found v2.

This is a good place.....more meaningful cricketing disussions and more proactively managed

One thought prompted by pictures of Peter Roebuck batting in his specs is that it is interesting that, although there are not many cricketers who have worn specs while playing, a high proportion of them have been captains: MJK Smith, Vettori, Clive Lloyd, Zaheer Abbas, Roebuck.

Is the reason that wearing glasses makes you look studious and authoritative, and therefore good captaincy material?

Corporal - are you suggesting that Geoff Boycott would have become England captain if he hadn't swapped his specs for contact lenses?

Back to Peter Roebuck.

I was somewhat stunned to just discover that Roebuck wrote the foreword to David Frith's 1991 book By His Own Hand concerning cricketers who committed suicide. Even more so by this sentence:
''Cricketers are supposed to be simple, even gung-ho, in sexual matters as in everything else. And yet cricket - and most cricketers - has its dark secrets, its skeletons.''

guildfordbat wrote:Corporal - are you suggesting that Geoff Boycott would have become England captain if he hadn't swapped his specs for contact lenses?

Guildford No, but may be he is an exception that proves the rule. Also there are a few others, such as David Steele, who wore glasses and weren't captains as far as I am aware...