Ed Barney, who replaced Mo Bobat as the ECB’s performance director earlier this year, said the seam-dominated squad reflected “England’s short and long-term needs” across formats. “Over half the squad consists of seamers, reflecting our continued focus on supporting these players to achieve their potential,” Barney said.

McKenzie, the former South Africa batter, will oversee a group of batters which three recent members of the England Under-19s set-up in Freddie McCann, Ben McKinney and Hamza Sheikh. Dan Mousley will join the Lions tour after travelling to the Caribbean for England’s white-ball series, while James Coles, Matty Hurst and James Rew also feature.

Karthik was another coach briefly brought into the Lions set-up on a short-term basis in India earlier this year, with the ECB seeking to harness local knowledge on development tours. It is understood that Jacques Kallis was also scoped out as an option for the South Africa camp, though is not expected to feature when a full list of coaching staff is announced later this week.