Tributes have poured in for Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer - a former England Test batsman and Warwickshire coach - who died after being found unconscious in his hotel room in the West Indies during the World Cup on Sunday.

Former Test umpire Dickie Bird said he was "stunned and shocked" by the news.

"Bob was a very close friend - I cannot believe it. He was a tremendous all-rounder for Kent and for England and magnificent cricket coach.

"He was respected worldwide. He developed into the finest coach in the world. He was a tremendous professional cricketer and was dedicated to the game

"The world will miss him. He did so much for the game, he was well liked and well respected .

"He knew the game inside out that’s what made him a magnificent coach. I know for a fact that the Pakistan team thought the world of him."

Bird admitted to worrying about Woolmer after Pakistan’s shock defeat to Ireland and insists the result - coupled with their opening day defeat to the West Indies - would have placed huge pressure on his friend.

He added: "Pakistan is a massive (cricket) country and were one of the favourites to win the World Cup.

"We all thought they would beat Ireland and I thought they would certainly get to the semi-finals. This result put a lot of pressure on Bob.

"I watched him when they got beaten and his face looked drawn, he looked ill and it took a lot out of him.

"Everyone in Pakistan thought they were going to win the World Cup - this put a lot of pressure on Bob."

Kent coach Graham Ford said: "The news has hit us very hard indeed - it’s really set us back.

"I had the fantastic opportunity to work as his understudy when he was coaching South Africa and I learnt a huge amount from him.

"He was a fantastic analyst of the game, he was brilliant as a technical coach and he was a man who was always thinking ahead to help his team be one step ahead.

"People may remember in the 1999 World Cup he got earpieces for the captain and the bowler to keep in touch with him.

"It was outlawed - but that was the man he was. He wanted his team to perform well and to contribute to make them play better.

"He was an outstanding coach and I was lucky to learn from him, which makes it so sad to hear this tragic news today."

Woolmer played for Kent from 1968 to 1984, and Ford continued on Sky Sports: "He was a very popular man, he enjoyed being with the players not just during matches but after them as well.

"He liked talking cricket but he was also able to relax and talk to players about his life.

"He was a nice person to be around - and the South Africa players enjoyed having him as their leader.

"Once or twice he said to me the Pakistan players could achieve amazing results if they had the right guidance - and it looked like he was getting it right until recently.

"But I know it was a worrying factor to him that the team were not playing as well as they could be."

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier described Bob Woolmer’s death as a "sad shadow over the 2007 Cricket World Cup".

Woolmer represented England in 19 Test Matches scoring three hundreds and also represented England in six one-day internationals.

In only his second Test, at The Oval in 1975, Woolmer saved England as they followed on against Australia.

He held out for 499 minutes against the fearsome pace attack of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, making 149.

Collier said: "The passing of Bob Woolmer in Jamaica today casts a sad shadow over the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

"Bob was one of the world’s greatest coaches and as a player his innings of 149 lasting more than eight hours against Lillee and Thomson demonstrated not only how talented a player Bob was but also his pride in wearing the England sweater.

"But perhaps Bob will be best remembered as one of the world’s leading coaches. He embraced innovation and was at the forefront of many new developments in the game.

"His legacy to cricket in England and Wales includes the significant role he played in the development of the ECB Level 4 Coaching Course as well as coaching Warwickshire to that wonderful summer in 1994 when the county captured three trophies in one season.

"Everyone at ECB extends our deepest sympathy to Bob’s family - we have lost a great friend."

Mike Denness, who played alongside Woolmer for England and in Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the 1970s, was equally shocked by the news.

Former England captain Denness said: "He was a great lad, a great innovator.

"He was a bit eccentric at times but it’s a terrible loss and it hits you very hard when someone you’ve played with passes away - I feel very sorry for Gill and his family.

"I don’t know whether this is a result of the pressure and tension of the World Cup, but Pakistan obviously wanted to do as well as everybody else and he would feel for them."

Denness confirmed Woolmer was one of the great innovaters within cricket, developing and fine-tuning the reverse sweep and was also one of the first coaches to use computer technology to analyse the game.

"I remember going to his house in Cape Town and showed me his work room and he had everything on the computers even then," said Denness.

"This was before the technology was really available and he showed how he was going to monitor things and study each player’s performance.

"He was one of the first to really work at the reverse sweep shot - and probably worked at it too much.

"He taught people to go back when they were playing it rather than go forward to give batsmen more room to play and he devised a lot of that."

Bob Woolmer - a cricket pioneer

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