text: CRICKET - WOOLMER MAKES SENTIMENTAL RETURN TO KANPUR. KANPUR, India 1996-12-07 
   South Africa's trip to Kanpur for the third test against India has given former England test cricketer Bob Woolmer the chance of a sentimental return to his birthplace. Woolmer was born in the northern city of Kanpur when his father worked there for an insurance compnay and was himself an active cricketer. " It's been a sentimental journey. . . A visit to India is always an intriguing experience, " Woolmer, now the South African coach, said on Saturday. Woolmer, 48, played 19 tests for England between 1975 and 1981. His first cricketing sojurn to India was as a member of Tony Greig's England side in 1976-77. His father Clarence Woolmer represented United Province, now renamed Uttar Pradesh, in India's Ranji Trophy national championship and captained the state during 1949. Now aged 86, Woolmer senior lives with his son in Cape Town. Woolmer's memories of Kanpur are few and blurred. " I don't remember much of the place, " he said. " 
   I came here on zero and left at three (aged three) when my father was transferred to Calcutta where I spent another four and half years. " But I do remember we had a cobra snake in the basement of our house. Also that my father bought a bicycle and when we rode over a hose pipe it broke into two. " 
   Woolmer said the hospital where he was born is close to the stadium where the India-South Africa test will be played.
competitors: Toll Brothers Insight Enterprises Guidant