Stuart Broad has said that England need to "make use" of playing Twenty20 cricket on the sub-Continent before defending their World Cup title in Sri Lanka.

The 20-over skipper leads his team into three games against Pakistan in the UAE, which the 25-year-old believes are vital in the run-up to September's competition.

"We need to make use of every game we have, because there aren't that many leading to the World Cup," Broad told The Telegraph.

"Obviously, with that being in the sub-Continent, we need to really make use of these conditions here in Dubai - because we won't have any sub-Continent Twenty20 cricket until the warm-up games for the World Cup.

"It makes these games pretty important, from a learning perspective. But we're not looking at these as warm-ups for the World Cup. We're looking to win this series, and that's what we'll be focusing on."

England will play the West Indies in one T20 international in May, before facing South Africa in a further three fixtures in September.