Jofra Archer has completed his eleventh hour World Cup dream with selection in the final 15 ahead of David Willey.
They are both seamers in name, but Archer's extra pace and X-factor ability that has wowed fans in the three games he has played so far should have propelled him into England's first choice eleven.
Willey misses out as the first pace bowling reserve with Tom Curran, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett all grabbing a spot in the squad.
At a sun-kissed Lord's with eyes of the world's media on him, national selector Ed Smith named Sussex's Archer among the final 15, despite him only becoming available last month.
For all the planning and preparation that has gone into turning England into the No.1 ODI side in the world, this is still an unexpected bonus that should give the home side and even better shot at World Cup glory.
It is desperately cruel luck for Willey, who has played in 46 of England's 88 matches since the last World Cup, but with little swing available for him, the difficult choice had to be made.
Willey was one of three bowlers to question whether Archer's late arrival should translate into a World Cup place.
In the Caribbean, he said: "Whether someone should just walk in at the drop of a hat because they're available, whether that's the right thing I don't know."
Left arm spinner Liam Dawson leapfrogged Joe Denly to capture the reserve spinner slot as back up to Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid despite not playing at all for England this year.
He has been in stunning form for Hampshire as they reached Saturday's Royal London Cup final and may essentially be brought back after slipping out of the squad through injury.
Denly was the beneficiary back in October when he was called up to the squad in Sri Lanka to replace Dawson, who had a side strain.
A former team-mate of Smith, Denly had his supporters in each selection meeting since that call up.
But fundamentally he couldn't find the performance in either the West Indies or against Pakistan to make a definitive case for his inclusion.
With James Vince rounding off the places in the squad as a replacement for the axed Alex Hales, England's band of brothers attempting to win a first global 50 over tournament looks strong.
And yet for all the planning and preparation over the last four years, they are still taking two players in Archer and Dawson into the tournament with just six caps between them.
Skipper Eoin Morgan has long insisted that England needed to arrive at the tournament as one of the best teams in the world and with as much experience as possible, and while the first choice batting certainly ticks those boxes, there is no doubt that both Archer and Dawson could have done with a few more matches under their belts.
Beyond those two names, England's first choice eleven does look as strong as it possibly could with runs and wickets galore and with Morgan set to play his 200th game for England in the opener against South Africa.
England 15-man ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Squad
- Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) Captain
- Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
- Jofra Archer (Sussex)
- Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
- Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
- Tom Curran (Surrey)
- Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
- Liam Plunkett (Surrey)
- Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
- Joe Root (Yorkshire)
- Jason Roy (Surrey)
- Ben Stokes (Durham)
- James Vince (Hampshire)
- Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
- Mark Wood (Durham)
