12 players to watch
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Afghanistan: Mohammed Nabi
An all-rounder, Mohammed Nabi is capable of turning a match with both bat and ball. He first came to prominence after hitting 116 against the MCC in India, following which he was offered a place on the MCC's Young Cricketers programme, which has previously included players such as Ian Botham, Phil Tufnell and Mark Waugh.
He became the first Afghanistan player to play first-class cricket when he turned out for the MCC against Sri Lanka A in 2007, top scoring in the MCC's first innings with 43. He was a key player for Afghanistan in the ACC Twenty20 Cup the same year, scoring a 24 ball 50 and taking 3/27 in the final against Oman.
He has recently gained experience playing first-class and List A cricket in Pakistan, where he played for Pakistan Customs. He scored an unbeaten 112 in a one-day match for the team, and currently has a List A batting average over 50, making him one of the batsmen to watch during the tournament.
Bahamas: Narendra Ekanayake
Sri Lankan born left-arm spinner Narendra Ekanayake is the current captain of the Bahamas side, taking that role for the first time in this year's Stanford 20/20 tournament, where he picked up the wicket of West Indies batsmen Xavier Marshall.
Previously an all-rounder, his batting has declined in recent years, but his bowling has come on in leaps and bounds. In Division Two of the Americas Championship in 2006, he took 13 wickets at the average of 5.84, including an excellent 6/12 against Panama.
He took four wickets at 14.50 in the Americas Division Two tournament earlier this year, and given the Bahamas poor performance in their warm-up games against Nepal and Guernsey, they will need him to be on the top of his game if they are to have any hope on reaching Division Four.
Botswana: James Moses
James Moses, a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler, is coming to the end of his career at the age of 42, but is still one of Botswana's key players.
He made his debut back at the African Championship in 1998, before Botswana had even become an ICC member. He was Botswana's key player in the African Affiliates Championship in 2004, where he was his team's top run scorer and top wicket-taker.
He has declined a little since then, but his experience will count for a lot in Botswana's campaign.
Germany: Javed Iqbal
Germany are a little unfortunate in that their best cricketer, Gerrit Muller, now plays for Denmark. This of course excludes Shane Warne, who incorrectly thought he could apply for a German passport last year.
Instead, the man to watch for Germany is probably going to be Javed Iqbal. Born on Christmas Day 1974 in Pakistan, Iqbal made his debut for Germany at the 2004 European Championship, taking four wickets in his two matches, including 3/21 against Gibraltar.
He was a key member of the side when the European Championship next came around in 2006, where he was the leading German wicket-taker, second only in the overall standings to Aamer Waheed of Norway, taking eleven wickets at 15.18, including one of the tournament's two five wicket hauls, 5/35 against Greece. He will need to be on that form for Germany in this tournament.
Japan: Naoki Miyaji
This 29 year old opening bowler has a lot of experience behind him, making his debut back in the 200 ACC Trophy, when Japan were still part of the Asian region. They had switched to the East Asia-Pacific region by 2002, when Japan played in the East Asia Eights in Perth.
He was the top Japanese wicket-taker in that tournament, taking six wickets at 27.33. He has also played some club cricket in England, meaning he has experience of similar conditions to those he'll find in Jersey. His experience in England had obviously helped him when he was the top wicket-taker for Japan in the 2005 East Asia-Pacific Cup, taking 11 wickets at 9.81 in the group stage before taking three wickets in the dying overs of the final against the Cook Islands to lead Japan to the title.
He played a key role in getting Japan to Division Five, as he was Japan's top wicket-taker at the East Asia-Pacific Trophy in Auckland last year, when he took twelve wickets at the average of 14.66. He needs to repeat that for Japan in this tournament.
Jersey: Ryan Driver
The former Lancashire and Worcestershire batsman is making his official debut for Jersey in this tournament, after previously playing for them as a non-qualified player in the inter-insular match against Guernsey.
He is one of a handful of players in the tournament with first-class experience, playing 25 matches between 1998 and 2002. He was a consistent performer at second XI level with Lancashire and Worcestershire, and at minor counties level with Cornwall, but he never quite made it at a higher level.
Nevertheless, his experience will count for a lot in the tournament, and he has begun to develop into something of an all-rounder. He bats in the upper order, and bowls right-arm medium pace. Last year, he took 8/63 playing for Cornwall against Devon in the Minor Counties Championship.
Mozambique: Syed Kaleem Raza Shah
All-rounder Kaleem Shah is set to be the key player for Mozambique in this tournament. He only made his debut for them two years ago, but has already shown himself to be indispensable.
First, in WCL Africa Division Three in 2006, he was the tournament's top run-scorer, with 313 runs at 78.25 with a top score of 126 against Morocco – the only century of the tournament. He also scored 77 in Mozambique's win over Sierra Leone in the final and took six wickets at 26.
He didn't play as well in the Division Two tournament later the same year, though he did score 70 against Zambia, but Mozambique were playing at a higher level than they ever had. He is still set to be their main man to watch in this tournament.
Nepal: Binod Das
Nepal are one of the favourites in this tournament, and with a bowler like Binod Das in their line-up, it is not hard to see why.
Das made his debut for Nepal in the 2000 ACC Trophy, aged just 17. He has since gone on to become the first name on any team sheet for Nepal, and is probably one of the best bowlers at associate level, averaging 11.42 with the ball in first-class cricket, and 18.25 in Under-19 ODIs.
He is now captain of the Nepal side, and has an experienced head on his young shoulders. He has played well in the Nepali domestic tournaments over the winter, and will be hoping to bowl Nepal to victory in this tournament.
Norway: Zeeshan Ali
Norway are another team amongst the favourites for this tournament, and Zeeshan Ali will need to play as well as he has recently in order for them to live up to that title.
An all-rounder, Ali made his debut for Norway at the European Representative Festival (now Division Four of the European Championship) back in 2000, where he scored 154 runs at 77, and took eleven wickets at 11.
He has since often been amongst Norway's top run-scorers and top wicket-takers at most tournaments they play, and at Division Two of the European Championship in 2006, he scored 190 runs at an average of 47.50 and won man of the match awards against France and Israel as Norway went on to win the tournament and qualify for World Cricket League Division Five and European Championship Division One.
Singapore: Chetan Suryawanshi
Opening batsman Chetan Suryawanshi has been playing for Singapore since the Stan Nagaiah Trophy in 2005. He put in a remarkable wicket-keeping performance on debut, taking four catches and two stumpings. He also found time to bowl an over!
His batting began to come to the fore in the same series the following year, when he scored 86 and 91 in the last two matches of the series. He went into a small decline following this, though he has recently come back into form after giving up the gloves.
He comes into the tournament in top form, having been easily the best player in the Stan Nagaiah Trophy series against Malaysia earlier this month. In the three matches, he scored 251 runs and will be hoping to continue that form and show that the Asian challenge isn't just coming from Nepal and Afghanistan.
USA: Lennox Cush
All-rounder Lennox Cush has played more first-class matches than any other player in this tournament, having played 38 times for his native Guyana in that form of the game.
He made his debut for the USA in the Americas Championship in 2006, and won the man of the match award against Argentina after taking 2/30 and scoring an unbeaten 73. He has continued to play for Guyana in the Stanford 20/20, opening the batting and bowling in Guyana's winning campaign in 2006.
He also played in this year's tournament, winning the man of the match award in Guyana's one run defeat to Jamaica in the semi-final after taking three wickets for just eight runs in his four overs. His experience will count for a lot as the USA look to bounce back up the rankings on their return to international cricket.
Vanuatu: Andrew Mansale
This 19 year old is one of the top batsman in Vanuatu, and is their man to keep an eye on in this tournament. He first gained international experience at the age of 16 when he played for the East Asia-Pacific team in the Australian National Country Cricket Championship in 2005.
He made his debut for the Vanuatu side in the East Asia-Pacific Cup later that year, where he was his team's top run-scorer. He had an excellent EAP Under-19 Championship tournament last year, taking eleven wickets at 7.09 and scoring 240 runs at 80. He was the top wicket-taker in the tournament and would have been the top run-scorer had it not been for Fiji's Josefa Rika's remarkable innings of 257 against Japan.
He comes into this tournament in some form, after finishing as the top run-scorer in the East Asia-Pacific Trophy in December, which Vanautu finished as runners-up in to qualify for this tournament.