England have released Rehan Ahmed and James Rew from their Test squad to enable them to play 50-over cricket for the Lions against South Africa A this weekend.

Rehan and Rew both missed out on selection for England’s XI to play New Zealand at Lord’s but have been named in a 17-man Lions squad for a three-match one-day series which starts at Grace Road on Friday. Players will come in and out of the squad at various stages to enable them to play for their respective counties in the T20 Blast when they are not selected.

Saqib Mahmood is a notable inclusion in the squad, as he steps up his return from the knee injury that effectively ruled him out of England’s T20 World Cup squad. Jordan Cox features after returning from the IPL this week while Mason Crane, who last played for England in 2018, has been picked after a strong start to the season with Glamorgan.

Middlesex’s Caleb Falconer, who scored a century in England’s defeat to India in the Under-19s World Cup final in Zimbabwe earlier this year, also features in the squad, along with his former Under-19s team-mates Ben Mayes and Thomas Rew.

The series will provide players like Cox, Mahmood, Rehan and Sussex’s James Coles with opportunities to impress before England select their white-ball squads to face India next month. India will play five T20Is and three ODIs in England from July 1-19, with selection meetings due to take place in the next few weeks.

South Africa’s squad for the series features a swathe of recent internationals, including Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Kwena Maphaka and Lhuan-dré Pretorius.

The Lions have only played one 50-over match in the past three years, with four of their five scheduled fixtures against Pakistan A in March cancelled due to geopolitical disruption in the Middle East. South Africa’s tour also featured two first-class matches, both of which they won, and the ECB and CSA have arranged a reciprocal tour for December.

England Lions squad: James Coles, Noah Cornwell, Jordan Cox, Mason Crane, Henry Crocombe, Scott Currie, Caleb Falconer, Eddie Jack, Saqib Mahmood, Ben Mayes, Ben McKinney, Dan Mousley, Matthew Potts, Rehan Ahmed, James Rew, Thomas Rew, Asa Tribe.

Fixtures: June 5 (Grace Road, Leicester), June 7 and 9 (both New Road, Worcester).