KINGSTON, Jamaica — In an embarrassing reversal, Jamaican police said yesterday that Pakistan’s cricket coach died of natural causes and was not strangled following his team’s surprise World Cup loss this spring.

Officials closed the homicide investigation into the death of Bob Woolmer after getting opinions from three independent pathologists from Britain, South Africa and Canada and reviewing a toxicology report, Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas told a news conference. Thomas did not reveal what they believe caused the death of the 58-year-old coach, saying that would be up to Jamaica’s coroner to issue at a later time.

“The Jamaican Constabulary Force accepts these findings and has now closed its investigation into the death of Mr. Bob Woolmer,” he said.

The announcement ended a globe-spanning investigation in which authorities interviewed nearly 400 people and collected dozens of DNA samples and fingerprints from potential witnesses, including members of the Pakistan cricket squad and other teams.

Woolmer was found unconscious on March 18 in his hotel room in Kingston a day after his heavily favored team was eliminated from the World Cup in a humiliating loss to Ireland.

Authorities first said a preliminary autopsy was inconclusive, but on March 22 announced Woolmer had been strangled, setting off a press frenzy.