Flintoff is close friends with Key, his former England team-mate, and has a long-standing relationship with ECB chairman Richard Thompson via the talent management agency M&C Saatchi Merlin.

Key spun Flintoff’s early departure as a positive, arguing that it would provide another coach with an opportunity. He also claimed that criticism of Flintoff’s appointment – which the Sunday Times recently described as a “serious error” – was “unfair” and “disrespectful” to an “unsung hero” of the English system.

“I saw something I thought was unfair, actually, on Andrew Flintoff, where it said he shouldn’t have been doing that Lions job because he’s not doing this job now, the England head coach’s job,” Key said.

“I think that’s done a complete disservice to one of our greatest cricketers who, for the last three [sic] years, has done that Lions job when he could have done a hell of a lot of other things, earning a lot more money. But his passion [is] to actually try and bring the next generation through, and people like Sonny Baker, Mitch Stanley… so many of these players have come under his wing.

“We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have him do it. I thought it was disrespectful for people to say that he shouldn’t have been doing it. He’s been outstanding in that job, and we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have him.”

Key added that he saw no reason why the Lions coach had to be a contender for the main job, though suggested that Flintoff would become one in time. “It has never been [the case] that the Lions coach goes into being the head coach of England,” he said. “It probably happened with Peter Moores [in 2007]. That was it.

“He’ll get the chance to Sydney Thunder to go and get more head coach experience, which I think he needs, because he is three [sic] years into being head coach of a Lions programme. He needs to go off and spend some time [elsewhere].

“It [the Test vacancy] just came too soon, but he should be someone that goes on to become an outstanding head coach. When you talk about who could be the best person, Andrew Flintoff – in the future, with a bit more experience under him – could do it, and him not being there at times in the Lions gives opportunity for other coaches, and it’s for us to choose who comes in to do that.

“I think he’s an unsung hero. A lot of these young players that are coming through, you think how hard it is when they’ve got T10s, T20s, ILT20, SA20. We’ve got to go to a player and say, ‘We want you to come and commit to a red-ball tour of Australia, we want you to come and play 50-over cricket in Abu Dhabi’.

“Having Andrew Flintoff there has made a massive, massive difference in being able to do that, and I think he deserves the respect and the thanks for doing it.”

The South Africa tour is part of a reciprocal arrangement between the ECB and CSA following an identical series this summer, which saw South Africa A win both four-day matches by eight wickets and complete a 2-1 series win in the one-day matches.

Key was speaking at Lord’s after Fleming and Joe Root’s appointments as England’s Test coach and captain respectively, and said that he believed the ECB had found “the best two people” and a “complementary pairing” to take a side with “a huge amount of potential” forwards after a run of two wins in their last 10 Tests.

Fleming will not take charge of his first Test until December, with Marcus Trescothick in interim charge for England’s upcoming series against Pakistan while Fleming spends time with his family in New Zealand. Key said that requiring candidates to start immediately would have limited the field of candidates “drastically” and that Fleming will travel to the UK in September.

England will name a squad for the three-match Test series – which starts at Headingley on August 19 – late next week, and Fleming is expected to have some input in selection.

Key also confirmed that he had considered his own position as managing director in recent months. “This is a job where you’re constantly under pressure, all the time,” he said. “There’s uncertainty in it all the time. That’s part of being in this role. How close I came [to being sacked], I don’t know; how close I came myself [to resigning], what I was thinking, I obviously know.

“But it’s been a good few months – and even before that – where you’re constantly thinking about: are you the right person? What is the thing you’ve got to do? Are you the person to put that in place? I believe I am, but that’s for the people above me to decide all the time… I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”