England release Rehan Ahmed, James Rew from Test squad for Lions 50-over series

Rehan Ahmed and James Rew have been let go from England's Test team so they can play 50-over cricket for the Lions against South Africa A this weekend. Rehan and Rew have been included in a 17-man Lions squad for a three-match one-day series that begins at Grace Road on Friday, despite not being selected for England's XI to face New Zealand at Lord's.

In the event that they are not selected, players will join and leave the team at various points to play for their home nations in the T20 Blast. As he accelerates his recovery from the knee injury that effectively kept him out of England's T20 World Cup squad, Saqib Mahmood is a notable addition to the group.

After returning from the Indian Premier League this week, Jordan Cox is in the lineup, and Mason Crane, who last played for England in 2018, has been selected 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.

From July 1 through July 19, India will host five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) in England, with selection meetings scheduled for the following few weeks.

A wide range of recent internationals make up South Africa's squad for the series, including Ottneil Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Bjorn Fortuin, Kwena Maphaka, and Lhuan-dré Pretorius.

In the past three years, the Lions have only played one 50-over match.

In March, four of their five scheduled matches against Pakistan A were postponed due to Middle Eastern geopolitical disturbances.

Both of South Africa's first-class matches on the tour were won by the team, and the ECB and CSA have planned a reciprocal tour for December. 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, and Asa Tribe are all members of the England Lions' squad.