MIDDLE-ORDER batsman Tamar Lambert has been retained as captain of the Jamaica team for this season’s four-day regional tournament.

Yesterday’s media release from the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) read: “The Jamaica Cricket Association is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Tamar Lambert as captain of the national senior team for the 2011 Regional Four Day Tournament.”

The rest of the Jamaican squad is expected to be announced shortly.

The Augustine ‘Gus’ Logie-coached team is scheduled to face Guyana at the Alpart Sports Club from February 4 to 7 at the start of a league phase where each team will meet each other once for a total of seven rounds of matches.

The top four Caribbean teams will progress to a semi-final stage.

The other teams competing are Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), and the formidable-looking England Lions outfit.

Last season, the Jamaicans, led by Lambert, took their third consecutive title after ending on 60 points, while Barbados followed with 57. The Leewards finished a distant third on 34, while Trinidad & Tobago took fourth place with 33.

In recent years, Lambert has consistently captained the team in the four-dayers, but was sensationally appointed to lead the Jamaicans ahead of former West Indies captain Chris Gayle in the 2010 Caribbean Twenty20 (CT20) tournament.

The team ended a disappointing fourth, with the stockily-built right-hander being criticised for having a below-par tournament with the bat.

In a sharp about-turn from the position taken for the CT20 just two months before, Gayle was then appointed to lead the senior team in last October’s West Indies Cricket Board 50-overs tournament.

Lambert was then overlooked for the just-concluded 2011 CT20, with veteran Wavell Hinds filling in as captain for Gayle, who was in Australia competing in the Big Bash tournament.