[patmiller]

No, not a saxophone player - at least not that I heard - but a very good cricket commentator.

I don't think there was a more informed or objective student and describer of the game of cricket than Peter Roebuck. I always looked forward to his arrival in the commentary box almost as much as I looked forward to Kerry O'Keeffe's departure therefrom.

Bizarre circumstances surround his apparent suicide in Capetown and no doubt we'll be treated to the details as they emerge.

I'm rarely affected by "celebrity" deaths, but I was genuinely saddened by the news.

 

[curly]

My sentiments the same on this. The sport has lost its best student. Loved reading his column in the Herald. ( I do like Kerry though! )

 

[evan1]

Well time will tell what happened:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...ter-police-visit/story-e6frepmo-1226194058512

 

[Dog Pants]

You know you're a cricket tragic when you sit up trawling the internet news channels for details of what actually happened.

From what I've read so far, I don't really want to know the rest. None of my business and I'd rather remember him as the great writer and commentator he was.

I'll confess to having a soft spot for the "skull" and some of the best commentary ever was Roebuck playing the straight man to Okeeffe's idiocy.

He was staying in the same hotel as many of the Aussie team which explains why no one caught him on the way down.

 

[Scherzando]

Same here. I've always thought that summer was heralded by Peter Roebuck's column.

When I read of his apparent 'suicide' where a South African police officer was present in the apartment with him, I immediately thought of Tom Sharpe's satirical novel Riotous Assembly. The SAF police were forever having to invent various and ever more wild stories to account for the way that the '*******' committed suicide while in police custody. Element of truth in it...

As evan1 wrote, time will tell. Hopefully.

 

[patmiller]

He was staying in the same hotel as many of the Aussie team which explains why no one caught him on the way down.

That's priceless and I'm going to steal it immediately as my own.

 

[RootyTootoot]

He was staying in the same hotel as many of the Aussie team which explains why no one caught him on the way down.

:mrgreen:

I don't think I ever heard him commentate (maybe just on Aussie tv?) but I certainly remember him as a player.

Suicide or not that's a pretty sad end to a life.

EDIT: You know I should pay more attention on test match special - apparently he was a "regular" on there too - maybe not since i started following cricket again (??)

 

[patmiller]

I don't think I ever heard him commentate (maybe just on Aussie tv?) but I certainly remember him as a player.

Never on TV, he just wasn't of that self-obsessed mould. He was a regular expert commmentator on the ABC radio cricket coverage and a print columnist for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He became an Australian citizen some years ago. His independence and his, to my mind, balanced comments earned him the displeasure of a few strong minded individuals including Ian Botham (whoops, I mean SIR Ian).

He was a great reader and explainer of the game and a fierce critic of posers, croneyism, racism and cheating. BTW I didn't get this from reading tributes but from listening to him and reading his columns. Not having played the game much in my youth or even had much interest until the last ten years or so, much of my understanding of the game has come from Peter Roebuck.

My prediction is that some sordid details of his private life may emerge soon that will overshadow his contribution.

 

[Black Obelisk]

Loved the album he did with Al Sears....