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LONDON -- The death of Pakistan's coach at the cricket World Cup is focusing attention on how far the sport has strayed from its sedate, gentlemanly image of village greens and tea breaks.

Modern-day professional cricket is plagued by doping scandals, misbehavior by players, match fixing, ball tampering, cheating and riots. And police in Jamaica are trying to determine whether the death of Bob Woolmer is connected to the sleazy side of the sport.

Jamaican authorities say Woolmer was strangled in his hotel room last Sunday, less than 24 hours after his team was ousted from the World Cup with a humiliating loss to lightly regarded Ireland.

During the past 15 years, cricket has become a target for gamblers and bookmakers, especially in Asia. Big-money bets have led to a series of match-rigging cases.

"There's an underground business and the bookmakers are ruining the game," said former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald, who played under Woolmer. "It seems to me that will never stop, because bookmakers have such easy access to players."

On the field, players have been caught cheating -- scratching the surface of the ball or lifting the seam to make it deviate more in flight.

Three days after Woolmer's death, former Ireland Cricket Union president Robert Kerr was found dead of a suspected heart attack. Although police have not linked the two deaths, they have cast a cloud on what should have been a festival of cricket.

The sport has been tainted by scandals for years.

Woolmer was South Africa's coach when team captain Hansie Cronje was exposed for match fixing in the 1990s.

Cronje admitted he took up to $100,000 from gamblers and bookmakers while on a tour of India in 1996 in return for match information, although he denied fixing a game. He was banned for life in 2000 and, two years after the scandal was exposed, died in a plane crash at age 32.

That scandal also ended the careers of former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, who was banned for life along with teammate Ajay Sharma, and Pakistan batsman Salim Malik and fast bowler Ata-ur Rehman for conspiring with bookmakers to fix matches.

"It is still going on," said former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz. "I believe Woolmer found out about what went on and was about to reveal all. Woolmer is not the first person in cricket to be fooled by these people. Hansie Cronje died in a plane crash that has never been properly explained."

Woolmer was among the South African cricket officials questioned about the 1996 scandal, although he was never accused of match fixing. He was writing a book that touched on corruption in cricket, and Pakistan team spokesman Parvez Mir said the coach was upset that proofs of the book were missing.

"Bob told me the proofs had been misplaced and he was very disturbed," Mir told reporters. "I don't know what was in the book, but that was his only copy at the time."

Woolmer was coaching Pakistan when it was involved in ball tampering allegations during last year's test series in England.

Australian umpire Darrell Hair accused Pakistan of breaking the rules by changing the condition of the ball. Team captain Inzamam-ul-Haq rejected the claim and refused to lead his team out for the final session. The match was declared a forfeit, the first in the 129-year history of test cricket.

Although Inzamam was cleared by a disciplinary committee of tampering with the ball, he was banned for four games for bringing the game into disrepute.

Hair, who penalized Sri Lanka spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing rather than bowling the ball, was accused of bias against South Asian teams. Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka said they didn't want him in charge of their games and the sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council, banned him from officiating at matches involving the leading test nations.

Pakistan then ran into a doping controversy.

Fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif tested positive last year for the banned substance nandrolone and initially were banned for two years. While their suspensions were overturned by a Pakistan Cricket Board appeals panel, that decision has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency and international cricket officials.

The two bowlers pulled out of the World Cup, citing injuries.

Shane Warne, the world's greatest spin bowler who has taken the most test wickets in the game, was banned for a year and had to pull out of Australia's team for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after he tested positive for a banned diuretic.

Passions run so high in India and Pakistan that cricket fans have rioted if their teams aren't winning. Indian fans started fires and showered the field with bottles in Calcutta at the 1996 World Cup semifinal against Sri Lanka, forcing the match to be abandoned.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press