The UK police verdict follows work by a British Home Office pathologist, who flew to Jamaica to probe Woolmer's death.

Woolmer was found dead in his hotel in Jamaica on 18 March after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup following a defeat to Ireland.

Four days later Mark Shields, Jamaica's deputy police commissioner, announced at a news conference that the 58-year-old former England player had been murdered.

But a British newspaper has reported that Jamaican police are to announce that Woolmer died of natural causes. Police in Kingston now believe Woolmer died of natural causes, brought on by chronic ill-health and possibly diabetes.

The Sunday Tribune has previously reported that Woolmer was seriously overweight and was taking medication for a diabetic condition. At a reception for the media the night before the Ireland v Pakistan game Woolmer told Irish reporters how he expected to be sacked after the tournament and that his office in Karachi had been already given to someone else.

This weekend's apparent aboutface drew some sharp criticism of the Jamaican police investigation.

Pervez Mir, Pakistan's media manager during the World Cup, said he was "saddened" at the news and suggested that Pakistani cricket authorities should consider legal action.

"I've been saying all along that Bob had died a natural death and let's not jump the gun, let's wait, " he told the BBC yesterday.

"Today the Pakistan team players will be absolutely angry, because the amount of allegations that were levelled against them, or insinuations, or speculations against the Pakistan team."

Every member of the Pakistan team was interviewed and fingerprinted before returning home from the Caribbean, although police stressed at the time that they were not treated as suspects.

The Irish team were also interviewed and had DNA and fingerprint samples taken to eliminate them from police enquiries. The entire squad and management had been at a St Patrick's Night party in Ocho Rios, 50 miles from Kingston, at the time of Woolmer's death.

Former Pakistan player Asif Iqbal said yesterday that Jamaican police carried out a "Bollywood kind of investigation".

"Every day there were different stories in the newspaper, every day there was a different way of his being murdered. I think they made a mess of it to be very honest."

Bob Woolmer's widow Gill said she had heard nothing new from the Jamaican police about her husband's death. One member of Jamaica's Labour Party said the case had become a "global embarrassment" for the country's police force.