CRICKET

POLICE: PAKISTAN CRICKET COACH STRANGLED TO DEATH Pakistan’s cricket coach Bob Woolmer was strangled to death in his hotel room after the team’s shocking World Cup loss to Ireland, Jamaican police said yesterday.

Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas said in a statement that the pathologist report found that Bob Woolmer’s death was due to “asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation.”

The statement, which was read by a police spokesman at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel where Woolmer died on Sunday, said police were now treating the case as a murder investigation.

“There is an ongoing murder investigation into the death of Robert Woolmer and as a result the security arrangements at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel are a part of those investigations,” Owen Ellington, assistant commissioner of police, said in a statement also read by a police spokesman.

FOOTBALL

FAULK TO ANNOUNCE RETIREMENT NEXT WEEK Marshall Faulk sat out last season with a knee injury that threatened to end his career. He’ll officially close the door on his playing days on Monday when he announces his retirement at the NFL owners meetings. Faulk was the NFL MVP in 2000 and offensive player of the year three years running from 1999-2001. The 34-year-old helped the Rams win their only Super Bowl after the ‘99 season. He is ninth on the career rushing list with 12,279 yards and tied for sixth with 100 rushing touchdowns.

“He was great for St. Louis, he was great for the Rams and he made the dome an exciting place to be on Sunday,” team spokesman Rick Smith said. “But it was just a matter of when he would retire.”

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

IOWA COACH TELLS HAWKEYES HE’S LEAVING FOR NEW MEXICO Instead of rebuilding Iowa, coach Steve Alford will try to transform New Mexico.

“Things came up, and this is the decision he had to make,” senior guard Mike Henderson said after Alford told players of his decision during a team meeting Thursday.

New Mexico athletics department spokesman Greg Remington said there will be a 2 p.m. MDT news conference Friday in Albuquerque.

Alford, a former star at Indiana, had a 152-106 record in eight seasons at Iowa. He led the Hawkeyes to three NCAA tournament appearances, but Iowa won just one NCAA tournament game under his leadership. Last season, the Hawkeyes were upset by 14th-seeded Northwestern State in the opening round.