Swann thrilled to lead future stars

Graeme Swann believes the youthful Twenty20 squad at his disposal this week is full of potential "mega stars" and expects many of them to be pushing for a place in Sri Lanka next year.

England won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in 2010 and will begin their defence in a year's time in Colombo. But Swann, who captains his country for the first time on Friday evening against the West Indies, thinks it could be a new-look side looking to keep hold of the trophy.

The likes of Jade Dernbach, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick have all made international debuts this summer and are expected to be on duty at the Kia Oval, while Danny Briggs is in contention. "I see this as a team of young people but one that has been brought up on a diet of Twenty20 cricket and excelled at it for their clubs," he said.

While first-choice captain Stuart Broad and deputy skipper Eoin Morgan are sure to come back in when fit, Swann believes many of those names could force their way in alongside them.

Swann added: "I don't see our team next year being vastly different from this squad now. There will be the odd player that comes back in but cricket is one of those games where new superstars emerge all the time and this team has the potential to have four or five mega stars.

"We've only had a glimpse of what Jonny Bairstow can do, we've not seen anything of Stokes yet and we all know what a good player he is. Then, of course there is Jos Buttler, who does it day in day out in county cricket and will come to the party sooner or later.

"We've got the potential to have the most exciting top six in world cricket, which is great. And it is a great chance for Briggs and Borthwick to stick their hands up because they've got exceptional records domestically too."

The West Indies agreed to feature in these two matches after the ECB realised their broadcasting agreement was light on fixtures following the demise of the Stanford Super Series. That event ran for just a single year, in 2008, before its financial backer Allen Stanford saw his business empire crumble amid a fraud charge that he denied and has yet to stand trial for.

Stanford remains a highly contentious figure in his native United States but touring skipper Darren Sammy thinks he left at least some positive legacy in West Indian cricket. "With all due respect to what Stanford did in the Caribbean, I don't think it could be replaced," said Sammy.

"The interest that was generated during the Stanford T20 was very good for us and now the board has the Caribbean T20 which is a very good tournament. I don't know what is going on now with Stanford but what transpired as a result of his tournaments, I think it's exposed some good players for us."