Clarke was mentioned in former team-mate Alex Hepburn’s rape trial in 2019

The Evening Standard reported that Clarke is among a number of non-travelling reserves for March’s Test series against West Indies, who will be called upon in the event of a squad member contracting Covid-19 or being ruled out through injury.

Andrew Strauss, the ECB’s interim managing director, refused to confirm the names of the players on England’s standby list at Lord’s on Wednesday, but clarified that James Anderson and Stuart Broad – the high-profile omissions from the squad – were not included.

“There are a number of non-travelling reserves,” Strauss said. “We have identified a group of players who could come in if there are injuries, so we have asked them to prepare themselves as if they might get a call-up at some stage.”

Kohler-Cadmore was part of the England Lions tour to Australia in 2019-20 and named in an enlarged training group at the start of the following summer, but Clarke – once a regular feature in Lions squads – has not played for England at any level in the years since.

Clarke’s first-class form has been solid over the last two years – he has averaged 36.53 with two hundreds since the start of the 2020 season – but he has flourished in T20 cricket, impressing for Nottinghamshire in the Blast and recently for Melbourne Stars in the BBL.