Tributes paid to Peter Roebuck after death in South Africa

TRIBUTES have been paid to former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, who has died at the age of 55.

Roebuck was found dead on Saturday night at a hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, where he was covering Australia’s Test series for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who confirmed the news.

Local police said they are treating the incident as suicide. Captain Frederick van Wyk, of Cape Town police, said: “An incident occurred last night at about 9.15pm at a hotel in Claremont where a 55-year-old British citizen, who worked as an Australian commentator, committed suicide.”

ABC Grandstand manager Craig Norenbergs described it as “incredibly sad news”, adding: “He was an integral part of the Grandstand commentary team, apart from being a magnificent print journalist. For us he could describe a game of cricket in such a way that, even if you didn’t like the game, you liked the way that he went about his business.”

Roebuck captained Somerset and opened the batting for much of the 1980s and passed 1,000 runs nine times in 12 seasons. Since moving to Australia and South Africa following his retirement, Roebuck became a respected columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Cricinfo alongside his commentary duties.

In a statement released by Cricket Australia, the governing body’s chief executive officer James Sutherland paid tribute to Roebuck. “Peter was a familiar face around Australian cricket who had been with the team only hours before his sudden death,” he said. “He brought particular insight to his commentary based on his lengthy experience as a first-class cricketer and captain, and combined that with a singular flair for the written and spoken word.”