Melbourne: Australian paceman Glenn McGrath said although the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer in his hotel room in Kingston has rocked the World Cup, the International Cricket Council has rightly decided to continue the tournament.

“As shocking as Bob Woolmer’s murder is, the ICC has made the right decision ... The World Cup must go on,” McGrath said.

“I can understand the feelings of people who say the Cup should have been abandoned out of respect to Bob but, being a great cricket man, he would have wanted it to continue and at least now we have the chance to honour his memory,” he wrote in his column in an Australian newspaper.

Recollecting his first reaction, he said: “It was a numbing moment”.

“I had just taken my first wicket and suddenly my thoughts split in two.

“Between overs I kept thinking about Bob and how cricket is a game we all love. It was never meant to be a game of life and death.”