• Former Pakistan spinner set to work with senior side, Lions and Under-19s • Shashank Manohar reverses decision to stand down as ICC chairman

Saqlain Mushtaq is close to agreeing a two-year deal as England’s spin-bowling consultant, a role in which the former Pakistan international will work with players in the men’s national team, the Lions and the Under-19s.

The 40-year-old joined the senior side’s staff for a brief spell during the Old Trafford Test last summer before touring Bangladesh and India during the winter, with both Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, England’s first-choice spinners, glowing in praise of his methods.

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It was notable that the pair’s performances with the ball dipped during the final two Tests of the 4-0 defeat in India before Christmas after Saqlain had departed and now Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, is expected to contract him for 100 days’ work a year.

“I will assist the Lions and the under-19 team, as well as the national team,” Saqlain told Pakistan’s Express Tribune. “I will assist players in camps and will also tour with the national team. Bowlers like Adil [and Moeen] improved a lot during my last stint with them. I hope I will be able to further augment their skill set.”

An ECB spokesperson has confirmed talks with Saqlain are ongoing. Speaking last November, Strauss said: “The indication is that he’s done a good job, he’s a very good people person and he connects well with the bowlers.”

England have announced the availability of the centrally contracted players for the early part of the upcoming county summer, with Joe Root, the new Test captain, and Jonny Bairstow not due to feature for Yorkshire until the third round of championship games, when they take on Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl from 21 April.

Rashid resumes for Yorkshire in the second round of matches, at Warwickshire, while seam bowlers Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson are released to play in the first and third fixtures played by Nottinghamshire and Lancashire respectively.

Jake Ball, who picked up a knee injury during the one-day tour of the Caribbean, will not play for Notts until the second round at Durham, who themselves begin the season with Mark Wood available after returning from ankle surgery during the recent North v South series.

Alastair Cook, now back in the Test rank and file after standing down as captain last month, is free to play for newly-promoted Essex from the start of the summer while eight players – Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes – are unavailable to their counties in the early weeks of the season having signed to play in the Indian Premier League.

The International Cricket Council, meanwhile, has announced that its chairman, Shashank Manohar, has deferred the resignation he tendered a fortnight ago following a show of support from the governing body’s board of directors.

The 59-year-old Indian lawyer, who is eight months into a two-year term as the ICC’s first independent chairman, had cited personal reasons for his decision amid reports of growing opposition from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe towards his proposed reforms to the governing body and its constitution.

Manohar will now continue in the role until the AGM later this year in order to see out the process that is looking to scale back the reforms of 2014 that saw India, Australia and England take greater control of running the game and allocate themselves over half the revenues generated by global events.