Bob Woolmer's wife and two sons joined a host of former and current international cricket players today to pay tribute to the Pakistan coach at a sombre memorial service in Cape Town.
Allan Donald, Gary Kirsten, Paul Adams and Nicky Boje, all former members of South Africa's Proteas, were among those who gathered to honour Woolmer, whose suspected murder during the World Cup in Jamaica last month has shaken the cricket world.
Solemn music filled the hall at the Wynberg Boys' High School where Woolmer had for long shared his cricket expertise.
An enlarged picture of Woolmer, who lived in the Cape Town area with his family, wife Gill and sons Dale and Russell, was pinned to the dias, bearing the words "He will never be forgotten."
Former South African cricket chief Ali Bacher and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf also attended the service along with some 300 people.
Adams, a South Africa test spin bowler, said Woolmer had played a vital role in taking the game to poor communities in and around Cape Town.
Woolmer (58), was found unconscious in his hotel room on March 18th, one day after his team were eliminated from the World Cup in a shock defeat by Ireland. He was pronounced dead in hospital later that day. Jamaican police are treating the death as a murder.
Woolmer's death has cast a pall on the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean amid speculation that it was linked to match-fixing.