Cape Town police say Roebuck committed suicide

Cape Town police have released an official statement saying that former Somerset captain and cricket writer/commentator Peter Roebuck had committed suicide. Roebuck was found dead in his hotel room this morning. He had been in South Africa covering the ongoing series between Australia and South Africa. There are no details about why he did it or how, a report in the Herald said, “It is believed he was spoken to by police earlier in the day,” the Herald.

Roebuck, who scored more than 17,000 first class runs, was instrumental in the departure of West Indians Viv Richards and Joel Garner, as well as England captain Ian Botham, from Somerset during his tempestuous reign as captain in the late 1980s.

After retiring from the game in 1991, Roebuck moved to Australia and forged a career as a stylish and strongly opinionated cricket writer for the Herald, Melbourne’s the Age and latterly the hugely popular Cricinfo website.

“Peter was a wonderful writer who was the bard of summer for cricket-loving Australians,” said Ian Fuge, the Herald’s managing editor of sport. “He was also an extraordinary bloke who will be sorely missed.”

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