They may have called it a 'very difficult' decision but in truth it was a no-brainer.
Not only was Jofra Archer an automatic pick for England's World Cup squad, but he should adorn every team in all formats for the next 10 years. This could be the start of something very big.
David Willey, described as an 'outstanding human being who reacted exactly as you'd expect him to' by national selector Ed Smith, can have no real complaints about being the odd man out in a squad brimming with exciting and dynamic possibilities.
In truth it was a no-brainer for England to promote Jofra Archer into their World Cup squad
Archer was an automatic pick and should adorn every team in all formats for the next 10 years
The reality is Archer was always going to be included and England had seen enough against Ireland in Dublin and in the rain-ruined first one-day international against Pakistan at the Oval to rest him for all but one of the remaining Royal London matches.
Archer, the Barbadian with an English father and a British passport, was a shoo-in and the difficult bit came when England had to decide which deserving bowler had to make way.
Willey, as revealed by MailOnline on Monday, misses out because there are three better new-ball bowlers — Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes — and he does not bowl fast enough or do enough with the ball to operate in the middle overs and at the death.
As a chip off the old bloke as the son of one of the toughest men in cricket, Peter Willey, David might have been expected to take the call badly, but by all accounts, including his own on Twitter, he took it on the chin.
Not least because he is first reserve now.
David Willey, left, can have no real complaints about being the odd man out on Tuesday
Willey might yet have his day, particularly with Wood's left ankle being so fragile, but the Smith-inspired experiment of having Joe Denly around as a utility player was rightly discarded for a better spinning option, Liam Dawson.
Unless the Kent man was a proper rival for James Vince as the spare batsman, he was miscast and now, rightly, he will be able to concentrate on red-ball cricket in an attempt to nail down the No 3 spot in the Ashes.
It is a slight concern Dawson's promotion from outside the initial 17-man squad was partly put down to concerns over Adil Rashid's fitness — the leg-spinner will have a third cortisone injection in his right shoulder on Wednesday — but at least the Hampshire left-armer is a
