Woolmer was planning to retire

Bob Woolmer was planning to retire from international cricket after the World Cup, Murray Stevenson, the Pakistan team's former fitness trainer, told the inquest into the former Pakistan coach's death.

Stevenson said Woolmer had told him minutes after Pakistan's loss to Ireland on March 17 - which led to Pakistan's elimination from the tournament - the match against Zimbabwe would be his last. "He told me he had two bottles of champagne in his room at the hotel and we would drink it on Wednesday when the team played Zimbabwe, because it would be his last game in international cricket," Stevenson told the Jamaica Gleaner.

Woolmer was found unconscious in his hotel room the next day and was declared dead after being taken to the hospital.

Stevenson indicated Woolmer was apprehensive of returning to Pakistan after the loss to Ireland and that he overheard him talking to Asad Mustafa, the Pakistan team's operations manager. "Mr Woolmer asked Mr Mustafa for the phone number of the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board as he would like to discuss his future with the Pakistan cricket team," Stevenson was quoted in the Jamaica Observer. "Mr Woolmer told Mr Mustafa that he would prefer not to go directly back to Pakistan until the emotions had settled down."

Stevenson said he had learnt that the coach wanted to retire after the World Cup in the West Indies, and was working on his book on cricket. However, Stevenson said he had no knowledge of any sensitive content that could upset readers or personalities mentioned in the book, which Woolmer intended to publish this Christmas.

Among the others to testify on Friday was the World Cup's director of cricket operations Michael Hall, who said the Pakistan team was to receive an allocation of US$23,920 on March 14. Earlier, Patricia Baker-Sinclair, a janitorial supervisor in the Pakistan dressing room during the World Cup had testified that she saw Woolmer counting a bundle of US dollars.