The Marylebone Cricket Club has placed recently appointed director of cricket and operations Rob Lynch in temporary charge of the club after a hold-up in its search for a new chief executive.

In August, Guy Lavender confirmed that he would be stepping down as MCC chief executive and secretary after seven years in charge, to take up the equivalent position at Cheltenham racecourse.

The MCC had pressed ahead with a process to replace him immediately when he leaves on Dec 20, and had held multiple rounds of interviews. But there has been a delay in making a final appointment, thought to be because of the withdrawal of a leading candidate. It is not thought any job offers had been made.

As a result chairman Mark Nicholas, who is in Australia working on coverage of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for Indian broadcaster Star, informed members on Thursday that Lynch would be stepping up as interim chief executive.

New Zealander Lynch, once an MCC Young Cricketer, returned to Lord’s this summer after a spell as chief executive at the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), navigating the players’ body through a period that included the pandemic and the game’s racism crisis.

His wide-ranging job at Lord’s replaced the Australian former batsman Jamie Cox, who became chief executive at Somerset. It has been a year of change at Lord’s, with Nicholas replacing Bruce Carnegie-Brown as chairman, and Lord Mervyn King replacing Nicholas as president.

Nicholas cited Lynch’s central role in the sale of a stake in London Spirit, the Lord’s-based Hundred team, as one of the central tenets of what he expects to be a “relatively stable winter period”. The other major issue this winter, Nicholas said, is revising plans for the redevelopment of the Allen Stand next to the Pavilion, which has been delayed because of rising costs.

Given how recently Lynch arrived at Lord’s, it is thought that he did not apply to replace Lavender, but his promotion – even on an interim basis – may indicate that he could become a leading candidate in the coming months. At the PCA, he gained experience in leading a member-run organisation.

Insiders have long viewed Johnny Grave, the Englishman who recently enjoyed an impressive spell in the challenging role of chief executive at Cricket West Indies, as well placed to replace Lavender. He is also thought to be a strong contender to be the next chief executive of the International Cricket Council in Dubai. Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and son of Narendra Modi’s minister of home affairs, takes over as ICC chairman this week.

The other big cricket job going is chief executive of Cricket Australia, with another Englishman, Nick Hockley, leaving that post soon.