Two of English cricket’s most promising young players have been stood down from the England Lions party to tour India that leaves on Saturday.

Joe Clarke and Tom Kohler-Cadmore were due to leave with the England Lions but Telegraph Sport understands they have been told to stay at home after the England & Wales Cricket Board learned of their involvement in a WhatAapp group that was one of the main planks of evidence in the rape trial of Worcestershire cricketer Alex Hepburn.

Hepburn, 23, is facing the prospect of retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict on Friday on two counts of rape after a week long trial at Worcester Crown Court. The Crown Prosecution Service has two weeks to make a decision over a possible retrial.

The court was told evidence on Hepburn’s phone included a WhatsApp group recording details of women its members slept with. The chat mentioned “freshies” and “reheats” referring to either women they had slept with before or not.

According to the prosecution, the “rules” of the group included every “freshie” had to be rated out of 10 with the winner earning bragging rights and a free night out paid by the other two.

Hepburn was accused of raping a woman in a dark bedroom shortly after she had sex with Clarke. The woman said she thought she was still in bed with Clarke when she woke to find Hepburn performing a sex act on her.