The inquest into a former Somerset captain found dead at a hotel in Cape Town is to reopened.

Opening batsman Peter Roebuck played for Somerset from 1974-1991, scoring 1,000 runs in a season on nine occasions.

He became a renowned writer and broadcaster in Australia.

Police said he jumped from a sixth-floor hotel room after two officers attended to arrest him over an allegation of sexual assault by a Zimbabwean man

South African police said Roebuck had taken his own life and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

His family have said they have been stonewalled by South African authorities.

Roebuck's mother Elizabeth Roebuck, 87, told the Sydney Morning Herald: "After a struggle of nearly four years since my son lost his life whilst in police custody I am immensely heartened and relieved by the advice from our lawyers in Cape Town that the inquest is to be re-opened.

"I understand that Counsel has been instructed by the Director of Public Prosecutions and that it is very likely that he will advise that we should now be given all the forensic evidence that has so far been denied us. 

"The family and all those who believed in Peter will surely now at long last learn the truth about the circumstances leading up to his death and we look forward with some anticipation to seeing the witnesses to it asked the questions that we want answering."

Roebuck narrowly escaped jail in 2001 after admitting caning three young foreign players staying at his home.

Roebuck, 45, was given three four-month concurrent prison sentences suspended for two years after pleading guilty to common assault at Taunton Crown Court.

The court heard how super-fit Roebuck caned the three 19-year-old South Africans after they failed to keep up with him on runs between April and May, 1999.