Yorkshire’s David Willey earns England tournament recall for Twenty20 World Cup

Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, Dawid Malan and David Willey are set to take part but Stokes is currently taking a hiatus from the game to prioritise his mental health and recover fully from a finger injury. He has not played competitively since July.

Head coach Chris Silverwood said this week that no pressure would be put on Stokes to make himself available for the tournament and his name was duly missing from both the 15-man group and the three travelling reserves.

England do not have to formally finalise their squad until October 10, but there are no current expectations for a surprise Stokes return.

Stokes was the inspiration behind England’s 50-over World Cup win in 2019, dragging his side back from the brink in the Lord’s final against New Zealand, but they will now need to look elsewhere for heroics as they seek to unify the limited-overs trophies.

Sussex quick Tymal Mills represents something of a wildcard pick having earned the last of his four England caps in February 2017.

The left-armer had, though, been name-checked by captain Eoin Morgan as a potential bolter earlier in the season and excelled as a death bowler in the Vitality Blast as well as for Southern Brave in the inaugural edition of The Hundred.

The 29-year-old effectively takes up a vacancy created by Jofra Archer’s injury-enforced omission.

There is good news for another southpaw seamer in Willey who was axed from England’s triumphant World Cup squad two years ago, making way at the eleventh hour for the newly qualified Archer. Two years on he can finally banish some of the disappointment after edging Tom Curran to the final bowling place.

Curran has been a mainstay of England’s white-ball squad but has struggled to put together consistent performances recently, slipping firmly behind the likes of Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan.

Moeen Ali and Rashid are the only two specialist slow bowlers, despite the UAE pitches being known as spin-friendly.

England T20 World Cup squad: E Morgan (c), M Ali, J Bairstow, S Billings, J Buttler, S Curran, C Jordan, L Livingstone, D Malan, T Mills, A Rashid, J Roy, D Willey, C Woakes, M Wood. Reserves: T Curran, L Dawson, J Vince.