Relief for Steelbacks star Willey as he is named in England World Cup squad

The 33-year-old has been confirmed in England's 15-man squad for the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup, which is being staged in India from next month.

His call comes four years after he suffered the heartbreak of being left out of the squad for the 2019 tournament in England at the last minute, with Eoin Morgan's men going on to lift the trophy at Lord's.

Northampton-born Willey was the unlucky man to make way for recently-qualified Jofra Archer on that occasion, but he will now finally get his chance to play in a 50-over World Cup.

The England selection panel met to finalise their squad following the 3-1 Metro Bank ODI Series win over New Zealand.

The one change to the provisional squad that was named in August saw Harry Brook replace Jason Roy.

“We have selected a squad we are confident can go to India and win the World Cup," said England Men’s national selector Luke Wright.

“We are blessed with an incredibly strong group of white-ball players which was underlined by the performances in the series win against a very good New Zealand team.

“The strength of the group has meant that we have had to make some tough decisions on world-class players with Jason Roy missing out and Harry Brook coming into the squad.”

left-arm seamer Willey, who rejoined Northants this summer after seven seasons with Yorkshire, has previously been part of the England squad for two T20 World Cups, but this will be his debut in the longer white-ball format.

The squad also includes another Northampton-born player in Surrey all-rounder Sam Curran.

England begin their nine-match group campaign on October 5 when they take on New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

They then play further group games against Bangladesh (Oct 10, Dharamsala), Afghanistan (Oct 15, Delhi), South Africa (Oct 21, Mumbai), Sri Lanka (Oct 26, Bengaluru), India (Oct 29, Lucknow), Australia (Nov 4, Ahmedabad), the Netherlands (Nov 8, Pune) before playing their final group game against Pakistan on November 11 (Kolkata).

The top four teams in the 10-team group qualify for the semi-finals, with the final scheduled for November 19.

England Squad for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023: Jos Buttler (Lancashire – captain); Moeen Ali (Warwickshire); Gus Atkinson (Surrey); Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire); Harry Brook (Yorkshire); Sam Curran (Surrey); Liam Livingstone (Lancashire); Dawid Malan (Yorkshire); Adil Rashid (Yorkshire); Joe Root (Yorkshire); Ben Stokes (Durham); Reece Topley (Surrey); David Willey (Northamptonshire); Mark Wood (Durham); Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)