After tearing cruciate ligaments in April during the Indian Premier League, the Black Caps’ one-day international and T20 captain has not played since.

There is no guarantee he will be fit for the first game against England on 5 October, even though New Zealand says he has made “sufficient progress” to be selected.

Coach Gary Stead said he was delighted to be able to select him.

“He has been working hard to get back to playing cricket at the highest level.

The World Cup is not a short tournament, so we will continue to monitor his progress over the next month.”

According to New Zealand, Williamson was “unlikely to be fit and available for selection” for the tournament in India because of “standard rehabilitation timelines.”

“Throughout this entire process, I’ve tried to stay open-minded about when I might be able to return to cricket and not get too focused on one date or match,” Williamson said.

Selection doesn’t change that, and I know I still have work to do and goals to achieve to get back on the field.”

Williamson has been with the Black Caps on their tour of England, but has not been included in either the T20 or 50-over squads. He has also been practicing fielding along with batting in the nets.

New Zealand’s captain when they lost the 2019 World Cup final to England at Lord’s, Williamson is one of his country’s best batters across all formats and has played 161 ODIs, scoring 6,554 runs at an average of 47.83.