England have kept faith with Alastair Cook as their one-day international captain, and are vowing to continue backing him all the way to next year's World Cup.

National selector James Whitaker delivered a defiant response to the high-profile doubters of Cook's effectiveness as an ODI batsman and captain.

He was not only named, as widely anticipated, in a 16-man squad to travel to Sri Lanka for seven ODIs in November and December, but then Whitaker made it abundantly clear too that Cook has the selectors' unanimous support to remain in charge for next year's World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand.

With his unequivocal assessment of the captain's credentials, Whitaker must hope he can silence the debate - largely fuelled by former team-mates turned pundits such as Graeme Swann and Michael Vaughan - about whether England can be competitive in a global tournament under Cook.

He confirmed the selectors, who also announced recalls for Ravi Bopara and James Taylor on Wednesday, made no decisions - including the one to retain Cook - without significant and appropriate consideration.

"When we review any tour, any series, we start with the captain. And that was just the same in this case," he told Sky Sports.

"But let me reassure everybody we are 100 per cent committed behind Alastair Cook.

"It was very apparent, very soon, that all the selectors are 100 per cent behind Cook as leader of this team, not only for Sri Lanka but into the World Cup.

"We're certain that Alastair Cook will come good and score the hundreds he's scored in the past."

Cook has five ODI hundreds on his CV, as well as the current sub-80 strike rate which so troubles Vaughan et al.

To the selectors, it is not just the numbers that add up but Cook's durability and resourcefulness.

He was under the microscope too as England's Test captain, but achieved a relative return to form and oversaw a 3-1 comeback victory over India.

"It's worth highlighting the ups and downs he's been through this summer, and the resilience and fortitude he's shown," added Whitaker. "They show immense leadership qualities.

"That's what we need with the England team, and that's why he will be our leader in the World Cup.

"We believe we have a unique leader and a unique person, and that should not be underestimated."

Taylor has been in prolific form for Nottinghamshire of late, and despite having previously figured in just two ODIs against Ireland, is preferred to Gary Ballance.

The latter has been a revelation since replacing Jonathan Trott as England's Test number three but, after being part of the ODI squad which lost 3-1 to India this month, he has made way.

Whitaker said: "James' form over the last month, six weeks, for Nottinghamshire has just been outstanding.

"He keeps getting runs for our Lions team. He got a hundred against Sri Lanka A in our tri-series earlier in the summer and has just pushed out three hundreds for Nottinghamshire at the back-end.

"He is in exceptional form, and we believe he gives us options. He's knocked the door down in one-day cricket now."

The hope will be that Taylor can perk up a middle order which contains accumulators such as Ian Bell and Joe Root as well as blasters.

Even so, England will stick to a broadly conservative template.

Whitaker added: "We have flexible batsmen, and you do need different styles of batting. It would be wrong to throw six or seven bashers out there.

"We've seen that, when Joe Root did that against India at the back-end of the series there (at Headingley) - consolidation, a guy batting through - you can get to 290, to 300.

"With the experience of Cook and Bell - and we hope (Eoin) Morgan coming back into form - I think we've got a good, sound basis of players getting on that plane to give us some victories."

Bopara's return, after his surprise omission against India, may yet be horses-for-courses in the sub-continent.

"We wanted to have a look at a different formation of seaming options against India in England," said Whitaker.

"We had conversations with Ravi, kept him up to date with our thinking.

"We never exclude Ravi Bopara (from our thinking). He's got an immense amount of experience.

"We feel he can play a part in those conditions in Sri Lanka; then we'll review his position at the end of the tour."

England have also selected a 19-man Performance Programme squad, which not only continues their development policy but also provides possible contingency should the need arise.

"We're confident by the time the Sri Lanka series is over, we'll know our permutations," said Whitaker. "We've got a lot of work to do.

"A lot of guys in the team will feel they've under-performed slightly over the last year or so in one-day cricket.

"The likes of Bell and Morgan and Cook himself will feel there's a lot more to give in one-day cricket.

"We've kept faith in them and we believe they can perform well all the way through Sri Lanka and to the World Cup."

England squad for one-day international tour of Sri Lanka: AN Cook (capt), MM Ali, JM Anderson, IR Bell, RS Bopara, JC Buttler, ST Finn, HF Gurney, AD Hales, CJ Jordan, EJG Morgan, JE Root, BA Stokes, JWA Taylor, JC Tredwell, CR Woakes.