Swann is relieved just to be available for selection, considering he went under the knife in the United States four months ago and more recently suffered a painful blow on his bowling arm when Tymal Mills hit him with a short ball in England's Ashes warm-up match last week.
"I was pretty convinced I would never walk again, with my broken arm," he joked. "I think I was in shock - all my dreams were flashing in front of my eyes.
"I was wondering round in shock thinking 'I'm not going to play'. I couldn't hold a bat for the next 40 minutes - but then after stamping my foot petulantly and demanding an x-ray, I got the all-clear and sheepishly admitted it was only a bit of a bruise."
England had already taken the precaution of pulling Swann out of the away series against New Zealand at the end of February, to have his operation, and he was then used very sparingly during their Champions Trophy campaign last month.
"I have been thinking about this for months now," he said. "I was lying in my bedroom in America after the operation - and all I was thinking was that 'this had better be right and firing in time for the first Test match at Trent Bridge'."
