Admirers to honour Roebuck at Sydney ground

Melbourne: Admirers of late Peter Roebuck will gather at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday to honour the celebrated cricket writer who died under mysterious circumstances in Cape Town last month.

"The gathering is being organised to afford Peter`s many friends, admirers, readers and listeners an opportunity to pay their respects," Darshak Mehta, the chairman of the LBW Trust for disadvantaged students, which Roebuck helped establish, was quoted as saying by `Sydney Morning Herald`. Roebuck`s signature straw hat will be passed around for a collection for the African students he was supporting and ABC commentator Jim Maxwell will pay tribute at the gathering, from 4pm to 7pm. Roebuck`s family members said in a statement that they were still "deeply shocked" by his untimely death and were waiting to repatriate his body after getting permission from the British Coroner. They said the family had been comforted by tributes that continued to arrive and hoped it would be a "fine send-off", the paper reported. The 55-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator was found dead last month at Southern Sun hotel at Newlands in Cape Town with reports suggesting that he leapt to his death from his room on the sixth floor after being questioned by police about a sexual assault allegation made by a Zimbabwean man. Roebuck, who was 55 and played alongside Ian Botham and Viv Richards at Somerset, had built a reputation as an acute observer of the game since retiring from playing in 1991. He also worked as a broadcaster for ABC radio and had been covering Australia`s tour of South Africa. PTI