Battle royal for World T20 prize

This group is likely to be the more tightly contested one of the two. While Afghanistan are expected to top the group, the finishing positions for slots two through five are anyone's guess. Afghanistan did lose to Canada in a warm-up match earlier in the week but they were without the services of former captain Nawroz Mangal and Shapoor Zadran due to visa issues. Afghanistan were dominant throughout the group stage last year, thanks to the team's leading scorer Mohammad Shahzad. This time, they will have Hamid Hassan back at full strength to bolster their fast bowling even more. Hassan's presence makes Afghanistan favourites to dethrone Ireland as the kings of the Associates.

While Netherlands are not as strong without Tom Cooper and Timm van der Gugten, they still have enough experience to get them into the top three of their group. Peter Borren and Eric Szwarczynski are lynchpins for the Dutch and will provide some much-needed stability in their batting order. Scotland have had the benefit of reinforcements from the English county scene, thanks to a revision of ICC eligibility requirements. Matt Machan in particular has been a key addition and should help take some pressure off of captain Kyle Coetzer as they look to secure a strong position heading into the play-offs.

This is where the group is likely to turn into a dogfight. Nepal finished seventh a year ago, with a win over Kenya and a narrow defeat to Canada. They are riding high after winning WCL Division Three in May to advance to the 50-over World Cup Qualifier in January. Nepal aspire to be a top-flight Associate, and this is their chance to show how much they've matured. Paras Khadka was one of the stars of last year's tournament with his solid all-round performances, while Gyanendra Malla is one of the most dynamic batsmen outside of the Full Member world. Nepal also have a slew of spinners led by Shakti Gauchan and Basant Regmi, that will look to strangle opposition scoring rates and put Nepal in a good position to advance to the play-offs.

Kenya's shellacking at the hands of Afghanistan in October sounded off alarm bells in Nairobi. An SOS call went out to Steve Tikolo and the 42-year-old responded to come out of retirement. Kenya are depending on him to galvanise the rest of the team in order to arrest their free fall from the heights of 2003. Papua New Guinea are a hungry and energetic side who'll be breathing down the necks of Kenya and Nepal in an effort to squeeze them out of the top five. PNG finished fourth in Group A last year and an 18-run win over Ireland in a tournament warm-up match on Wednesday has made the rest of the teams in Group B take notice of their bid to progress into the knockout stages.

Bermuda were swept aside in a set of three trial matches by USA ahead of the tournament. They struggled to get to 100 runs in each game, with their highest total only being 108. They chased down 182 against a good Canada side in a tournament warm-up match but also failed to get the 129 needed to win against a weaker Italy side. This is a mercurial unit who are more likely to go bust than boom. Denmark are also unlikely to make a splash. The team won just a single match in the 2012 Qualifier, against Bermuda, and wound up finishing in last place. After Freddie Klokker, the batting is paper thin and the likelihood of Denmark challenging anyone in Group B is remote.