"Roebuck was a Cambridge graduate, who went on to be an acclaimed writer before, tortured by press interest in his private life, he took his own life in 2011."
Well-researched article, as always, but I feel the quoted sentence takes British tact and discretion a little too far. I was in primary school in Wiltshire at the time, and my headmaster (and cricket batting coach) was on the Somerset committee. Roebuck was known even then to be a nasty piece of work. He just about had the support of the committee in what was a difficult decision, but even then many disapproved of his methods and suspected him of being motivated not so much by what was best for the club but by feelings of resentment and envy and spite against its "stars" - as you rightly acknowledge, 'everyone' knew that Botham would inevitably follow Richards and Garner out of the door.
Now we know more about Roebuck's extra-curricular activities it is perhaps a little bit clearer why he felt so conflicted about the Masterblaster and Big Bird. You'll recall that Roebuck was convicted of Common Assault in England for administering corporal punishment by spanking three young cricketers with what the judge remarked was a clearly ***ual intent. He then upped sticks and left - a prophet without honour in his own land - to be a cricketing pundit in Australia and a 'philanthropist' in southern Africa, helping out young men he referred to as his 'sons' - in return for their accepting his spankings and ***ual advances.
Roebuck was an abuser and a ***ual predator. Even if not an actual paedophile - his victims were of legal age -, he was, under the cover of being a philanthropist, grooming vulnerable young people over whom he had considerable power. As we're now seeing in the UK, as the enormities of the late MP Cyril Smith and entertainers such as the late Jimmy Savile and the sadly still alive Rolf Harris are beginning to come to light, the most dangerous thing is to use circumlocutions about what is quite obviously abuse and predation by powerful persons. Such double talk makes it virtually impossible for victims to get justice. Roebuck was NOT "tortured by press interest in his private life"; he topped himself just as South African police were about to expose him for the abuser and ***ual predator that he was.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.