Stuart Broad believes there is enough talent in his England squad to retain the ICC World Twenty20 title in Sri Lanka.
England skipper in buoyant mood ahead of title defence
England captain Stuart Broad believes there is enough talent in his squad to make up for the absence of Kevin Pietersen and retain the ICC World Twenty20 title.
Defending champions England arrive in Sri Lanka without their leading run-scorer in Twenty20 cricket as he and the England and Wales Cricket Board continue to negotiate his route back into the international fold.
Despite starting the upcoming tournament as reigning champions following their 2010 triumph in the Caribbean, the bookmakers rank England amongst the outsiders to retain the trophy on October 7.
Speaking on his side's chances upon arriving in the sub-continent on Friday, Broad said: "Of course we're confident. We had a really good win against South Africa the other night to level the series. That series was affected by the weather but we can't do much about that.
Excited
"We've got some talented players here, we've played some really good Twenty20 cricket over the past year, we've got match-winners in the side. We saw Jos Buttler completely change the game the other night in one over and that's the sort of thing you need in Twenty20 cricket.
"It's hugely encouraging coming here, we've got to adapt to the conditions very quickly and that's what this first week is all about.
"It's a great challenge for us all - we're hugely-excited to be here. There are not many guys who have played in ICC World tournaments - they're amazing occasions, you have the best players in the world here. I think eight of us were involved in the World Cup win in 2010 and hopefully we can share that experience and learn quickly."
Broad has captained England's T20 side on just nine occasions since taking the post 16 months ago and will look to replicate Paul Collingwood's achievement of being the only cricketer so far to lead England to an ICC global trophy, in this same competition two years ago.
And the Nottinghamshire bowler is not about to allow the Pietersen controversy to deflect him from that ambition.
"It's not something we need to focus on as players," he said. "It doesn't affect what we do on the field; whether you hit the ball for six, or nail your yorker or slower ball.
"That's what we're here to do. We need to stay very much within our 'bubble' as a team," he added. "We have a very big one-game mentality.
Proud
"We're going to focus on our warm-up game against Australia (on Monday), play that, review it and move on; if we focus on those things and don't let outside influences disrupt us, we may have a really good opportunity."
Pietersen was man-of-the-tournament when England beat the world in the West Indies but Broad believes the team have progressed well in his absence.
He added: "I think it was the 2nd of June when KP retired from the one-day and Twenty20 format.
"We've had a bit of time to plan without him...to get used to that.
"We've been planning for a while, and the 15 guys who are here are really excited to be here and have the opportunity to represent England in a 'World Cup'.
"That's what you want, and it's an extremely proud moment to lead those guys on to the field of play."
