KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC0 – Nehemiah Perry has resigned as Jamaica’s chairman of selectors amidst speculation he is upset over Chris Gayle’s snub as captain of the national Twenty20 squad.
The former Jamaica and West Indies off-spinner quit late Tuesday night after a two-year stint in the position.
While Perry has not given a reason for his decision, speculation was rife Wednesday he quit after Gayle was overlooked in favour of Tamar Lambert.
Repeated attempts by CMC Sports to reach Perry proved unsuccessful.
Perry had spent the last few days presiding over the selection of Jamaica’s squad for the Caribbean Twenty20 tournament which bowls off on July 22.
On Wednesday, the 28-year-old Lambert was officially named to captain the 14-man squad which leaves next Tuesday for the first leg of the Caribbean T20 tournament in Barbados.
Courtney Francis, the Jamaican Cricket Association’s cricket operations officer, denied there was any controversy over Gayle being overlooked as captain.
“That is my understanding (that there is no controversy),” said Francis.
“I went out to the practice session today and had a little chat with the coach (Junior Bennett) and he told me there was no animosity in the camp and I’m comfortable with that.”
Bennett, along with Ruddy Williams and Ephraim McLeod also sit on the selection panel.
Lambert is widely viewed as a strong leader, having already guided Jamaica to a hat-trick of regional four-day titles while at the helm in recent seasons.
He was left out of Jamaica’s squad for the President’s Cup one-day tournament in Guyana last October with Perry blaming the player’s lack of fitness for his exclusion.