It was the second time that Buttler had told Roy that he had missed the cut for a major tournament, after his omission from England's T20 World Cup squad a year previously. Speaking to the PA news agency at a Castore event, Buttler said it was "a really tough [phone] call to make".

Buttler said: "I don't think any time is easy. It's part of the job as captain that is not enjoyable, whether they're great friends or not, it's not a nice job to do.

"I certainly feel like it's my responsibility to give that news. He's a really great mate of mine so it was a really tough call to make."

England have asked Roy if he is happy to be on standby in the event of an injury to a top-order batter during the World Cup. But he will not travel to India with the rest of the group, with Brook immediately on hand as the spare batter in the squad.

"Jason will be the top-order reserve, absolutely," Buttler said. "Harry, we do feel gives us versatility: he can cover Nos. 1 to 6 in the batting order, which is obviously something that's advantageous in a squad.

"But good players miss out, it's the very brutal nature of sport. There's plenty of people outside the 15 who will have felt that they were in with a really good chance of a spot.

"It's a bad headache to have but a good problem as a selection committee when you have a deep pool of players to choose from."