Australian David Saker returns to England coaching set-up for the Ashes

England have once more turned to Australian David Saker to oversee their fast bowlers in the upcoming Ashes as Tim Southee is unavailable for most of the hotly-anticipated series.

Saker first coached England’s pacemen between 2010 and 2015, including in 2010/11 when they last won an away Ashes series, and he reprised the role in their 2022 T20 World Cup triumph in Australia.

The Victorian was also in situ for the drawn 2023 Ashes series in England after an approach from Ben Stokes, while he has been on both sides of the divide having worked with Australia from 2016 to 2019.

England announced he will link up with them again before their one-off warm-up against the Lions from November 13-15 and dovetail alongside Southee for the first Test, starting on November 21 in Perth.

However, Southee, who has been a specialist skills consultant with England since the summer, will then depart the group to pursue an ILT20 playing gig in the United Arab Emirates, leaving Saker to take up the same position as the former New Zealand seamer and supervise the quicks for the last four Tests.

Saker will run the rule over one of the fastest bowling groups England have ever assembled, with Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson all able to get up to or over 90mph.

Assistant coach Paul Collingwood, the first person to captain an England men’s side to victory in a global tournament at the 2010 T20 World Cup, continues to be absent from the backroom team.

Collingwood, who retired from playing Tests after the 2010/11 Ashes triumph and is mainly responsible for England’s fielding, was not part of the coaching set-up over the summer owing to personal reasons.

The rest of the supplementary staff to head coach Brendon McCullum is unchanged, with ex-England opener Marcus Trescothick and New Zealand’s Jeetan Patel in charge of the batters and spinners respectively.

Gilbert Enoka, the mental skills guru, will also be with England in the build-up to the first Test and he rejoined them on Friday for the start of their white-ball tour of New Zealand on Saturday.

Enoka worked with England’s Test side in the summer and is famed for his work with New Zealand’s rugby union team, instilling a “no d********” policy in a period where the All Blacks won two World Cups.

Speaking ahead of the first of three T20s against the Black Caps in Christchurch, England white-ball captain Harry Brook said of Enoka: “He brings a lot of knowledge on the mental side of the game.

“We’ve actually just done a session with him now for an hour or so. He’s a great bloke. To have him in the ranks, just to be able to pull him in for a chat for five or 10 minutes is awesome.

“We have goals and ambitions individually and as a team collective, something we’ve spoken about is keep it within the group and head towards those goals and destinations as a side together.”

Brook admitted talking with Enoka has helped him become more open to change as white-ball captain, highlighting his previous reluctance to rejigging the batting order according to match circumstances.

The Yorkshireman added: “I haven’t liked doing that in the past but having little chats with Gilbert, knowing that things might change here and there is vital for the side.

“I’ve always been a team first man. We’re all there for the same reason, we all want to win, and it’s about realising that’s probably a better decision for the side and getting us closer to a victory.”