Bairstow’s country will host the World Cup, starting on May 30, and are looking for their first ever World Cup title when they start their campaign at the end of the month against the Proteas at the Oval.

After the global tournament, all the attention will turn to the Ashes and the arrival of the Australia Test side, but Bairstow says because of the work the side has put in over the past two years the World Cup takes precedent this summer.

“I am going (to pick the) World Cup because it’s been so long since we’ve had an opportunity to win one,” Bairstow told Sky Sports.

“I think that the amount of work that has gone into this group of players over the last couple of years, building and building, I firmly believe we’ve put an amount of effort in that gives us the best chance.

“Guys have worked day in, day out, taking their games to places that they weren’t at 18 months, two years ago.

“That’s from the vision Morgs (England captain Eoin Morgan) has had and the way we are playing our one-day cricket.”

England preliminary World Cup squad:

Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood