Former Shropshire cricketer James Taylor scout for England

And it has been revealed Andrew Strauss will step aside from his duties as England and Wales Cricket Board director while his wife undergoes cancer treatment.

The temporary arrangement will see Andy Flower take on Strauss’ tasks, and others will lend a hand to fill Flower’s role as England Lions head coach.

Six scouts – all former England players, Marcus Trescothick, Glen Chapple, Steve Rhodes, Richard Dawson, Chris Read and Taylor – will report to new national selector Ed Smith.

Strauss said: “My wife was diagnosed with cancer in December.

“We are very lucky she has been very well up to now – although she is starting a new treatment on Friday, which is going to more challenging for her.

“As such I am going to be stepping back from my day-to-day duties while that treatment is going on.”

The former England captain will therefore hand over his responsibilities to his ex-Test coach Flower.

“On a day-to-day basis, Andy Flower is going to be stepping in for me over the course of the summer,” added Strauss.

“We all know about his qualities and his experience of both England and English cricket, and he will fill in my shoes very adequately.

“I look forward to returning and grabbing the reins again.

“But at this period of time, my focus has to be on supporting Ruth and my family at a challenging time for us.”

As England prepare for the start of their Test summer against Pakistan at Lord’s on Thursday, it was revealed Trescothick, Glen Chapple, Steve Rhodes, Richard Dawson, Chris Read and James Taylor will act as Smith’s scouts.

Strauss said: “They will be compiling reports on players of interest to us – a long list of players of interest.

“They won’t compile reports on their own players, if they are involved in a county.

“(It will mean) many eyes, more time, more sight of players, more often, getting different perspectives to make judgements and assessments on these players to give us a better body of information that stays with us forever – formalising a process that has been going on in a more ad hoc manner for a long time.”

Smith is expected to announce one further appointment, an England selector to replace Angus Fraser and Mick Newell, later this summer.

Trevor Bayliss’ position as coach is in place until the end of his contract after next year’s World Cup and Ashes, but Strauss indicated there may be merit in appointing separate roles to take charge of the red and white-ball teams.

“I think there is definitely an opportunity to look at that a bit more creatively,” he said.

“It is very hard for one coach to coach all formats.

“It is possible, and most other teams go down that route.

“But we play more cricket than anyone else, and that is something we will definitely be looking at as part of that process.”

One situation which will not be changing is the enforcement of a pre-midnight team curfew on international duty.

England’s Ashes defeat last winter was beset by off-field distractions.

“We have learned a lot of lessons over the winter,” said Strauss.

“Players are clear about what is expected of them while on England duty, and I reaffirmed that today when I spoke to the players.

“(The curfew) is one thing the players got used to over the course of the winter.

“We are a high-performance environment, and guys being professional about how they prepare for games is not something that should be frowned upon.”