HAMPSHIRE'S Brad Taylor is hoping to emulate off-spinner Graeme Swann - and winning the Under 19s World Cup would be a good start.

The off-spinner was still in nappies when Owais Shah captained an England side including Swann to the 1998 U19s World Cup.

Winchester-born Taylor was not much older when he first started playing for Holybourne CC, the Hampshire League side where his dad plays and coaches.

Now he is aiming to captain England to their first U19s World Cup for 18 years.

"Graeme Swann was good to watch growing up and we've got a pretty good chance," said the 18 year-old.

"We back ourselves to get through the group stage and anything can happen from there."

England begin their campaign against Fiji in Chittagong on Wednesday, January 27. West Indies and Zimbabwe are also in Group C.

Three-time winners Australia have pulled out for security reasons, but Taylor prefers to focus on the threat England pose.

"We have some experienced players who have already played first-class cricket in Sam Curran, Dan Lawrence and Mason Crane," he said.

All-rounder Curran had only just turned 17 when he made his Surrey debut in all three formats in the summer.

Opening batsman Lawrence was also only 17 when he became the Championship's third-youngest centurion, by making 167 in only his second senior appearance, for Essex against a star-studded Surrey at The Oval last May.

Hampshire fans know all about Crane, the leg-spin sensation who took ten wickets at 33.6 in his first three LV County Championship matches last season.

Taylor has impressive pedigree of his own.

It is hard to believe two-and-a-half years have passed since he made his first-class debut, aged just 16, against Lancashire at Southport.

Taylor celebrated becoming Hampshire's youngest player since 1867 by taking 4-64 in the second innings.

He may well have played for Hampshire last season were it not for a finger injury that became infected.

A change of grip under the tutelage of Darren Flint, the Hampshire spin coach, and Peter Such, the England Performance Programme's lead spin coach, means he is looking forward to 2016.

"I now have the option to grip the ball with a different part of my finger," he explained.

Taylor took 4-34 against Sri Lanka U19s in Colombo last month, and is looking forward to bowling in tandem with Hampshire spin twin Crane on the sub-continent once again.

It is an off/leg-spin partnership Hampshire fans hope to see develop this year.

"We've bowled with each other since we were 13," added Taylor, who is currently acclimatising with the rest of the squad in Dubai.

"Mason's really attacking and I build pressure at the other end so we've taken a lot of wickets together over the years."

In the long term Taylor hopes that his batting will become as a strong a suit as his bowling. "That's the aim, long term," he said. "I like to play my shots and am getting closer."