So much at stake

Bermuda

Preparations,which began with a tour to Trinidad in May, hotted up last week in England with practice matches against a Lloyds Bank XI, Guernsey and Namibia who bowled out Bermuda for 102. The Bermudians were rocked by the last minute omission of veteran, Charlie Marshall, after an alleged altercation with captain, Clay Smith before the team left for the UK. Smith will be eased through practice matches to preserve his right knee.
ICC practice matches beat Northern Irish Cricket Union President's XI by 46 runs; lost to Oman by 13 runs
Coach Gus Logie
Player to watch Dwayne Leverock. The 33-year old left-arm spinner is the attack spearhead and rated highly by Logie. Provides much needed variety to the battery of friendly medium pacers

Denmark

The one team which readily concedes it won't be in the West Indies in 2007. DCF official Ole Huckenkamp says sixth is a realistic best case scenario for the Danes who hope to rebound in 2009 thanks to the new Danish academy. Despite rumours from off-shore, DCF officials are confident Amjad Khan will join Kent colleague, allrounder Johan Malcolm and Frederick Klokker in Ireland. Internal matches against a local Crusaders' team on June 23-24 cap low key preparations before the team departs for Ireland on June 27.
ICC practice matches lost to Oman by 66 runs; Abandoned vs. Canada (rain)
Coach Peter Palle Klokker
Player to watch Frederick Klokker. The team's most talented player, the left handed batsman is currently on the MCC staff. Denmark will depend heavily on him

Ireland

Another team with supposedly no aspirations to win the event. Ireland coach, Adrian Burrell, happily admits his team will be content with second place in Group A - the top two in each group book themselves a Caribbean tour. Most of the vibes for Ireland for this tournament have been positive: host nation status, a dream draw and a farewell tour for the prolific Middlesex left hander Ed Joyce before he commits to England. The only setback is wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien's decision to opt for county cricket under pressure from Kent. Where is the ICC now? Recent preparations included thrashing a lukewarm MCC attack in two matches last week and games against teams containing locally-based overseas professionals.
ICC practice matches lost to Ireland by four wickets; beat. Scotland by two wickets
Coach Adrian Burrell
Player to watch Ed Joyce. Experiencing a bountiful season with Middlesex - available only for the first stage of the tournament. If he brings his county form back home with him, this should be enough for Ireland to qualify.

Uganda

Richard Mswami, their manager, was shopping for long-johns and thermal underwear to cure his team's severe aversion to 11-degree temperatures, which are unheard of back home in Kampala. Their build-up centred around Birmingham, where they played six one-day matches and won five. Their limited preparations prior to arriving in the UK included hosting an MCC tour, and Intercontinental Cup matches against Kenya and Namibia.
ICC practice matches lost to Canada by 18 runs; lost to Papua New Guinea by three wickets
Coach Henry Okecho
Player to watch Kenneth Kamyucka took three wickets in their narrow loss to Canada. He is also a brutal lower-order batsman who can hit a fifty extremely quickly.

United Arab Emirates

Preparations began in February against Bangladesh A and were rounded off a fortnight ago in Durham, where they played four one-day practice matches against the county second XI. Prior to the UK tour, the UAE spent the month in selection and physical conditioning camps.
ICC practice matches beat Papua New Guinea by 196 runs; lost to Holland by four wickets (Cliftonville).
Coach Syed Abid Ali
Player to watch Khuram Khan - through his solid leadership, steady batting at No. 3 and slow left-arm bowling, he contributes perhaps more than anyone else in the team, Arshad Ali, who scored a century against PNG and is a handy spare-parts bowler, may argue.

United States of America

It is a delicious irony that the ICC-funded Project USA was intended to give the US national team every chance to qualify for the 2007 World Cup. Instead a two-day camp in Florida a fortnight ago has been the sum total of the USA's preparations. The USACA claimed it didn't want to disrupt players' employment, but Ajaz Ali and Imran Awan were missing anyway.
ICC Practice Matches lost to Northern Irish Cricket Union President's XI by five wickets, lost to Namibia by five wickets
Coach Faoud Bacchus
Player to watch Clayton Lambert, the former West Indies Test batsman, proved at the ICC Six Nations' tournament last year that he is still a matchwinner, as he almost single-handedly guided the USA to the Champions Trophy.

Canada:

The withdrawal of Ashish Bagai (employment), bowling allrounder Austin Codrington (lower back injury) and Ashish Patel has been partly offset by the addition of the residentially-qualified Ugandan paceman Henry Osinde and one-time Sri Lankan Test wicketkeeper of the early 1990s, Puloudu Dassanayake. The team played the first of its tour matches against Somerset 2nd XI, winning by seven wickets. The schedule also includes further games against Gloucestershire and Somerset seconds.
ICC Practice Matches beat Uganda by 18 runs; match abandoned v Denmark
Coach Rupert Gomes
Player to watch John Davison - destructive opening pinch-hitter, who blasted the fastest century in World Cup history at the 2003 tournament; also contains with his right-arm offspinners in the middle overs and offers valuable experience from years with Victoria and South Australia.

Namibia

The 2001 runners-up have had perhaps the most extensive preparations apart from Scotland, hosting the MCC, South African provincial team, North West Dragons, Pakistan A, as well as ICC Intercontinental Cup matches against Kenya and Uganda. Three one-day games, including decimating Bermuda for 102 on Saturday, have provided a last-minute fine tune before taking on Ireland.
ICC Practice Matches beat Ireland by four wickets, beat United States by five wickets
Coach Andy Waller
Player to watch Kola Burger, a tearaway in the Nantie Hayward mould, is a left-arm wicket-taker who often makes early inroads, despite spraying it around a bit.

Netherlands

The champions' defence intensified with the arrival of the 1987 World Cup-winning coach Bob Simpson on June 1. Simpson apparently likes what he has seen, with the exception perhaps of Holland's 100-plus run loss to Devon last Sunday. Simpson has imparted much advice on how to make the right decisions in vital periods of play. The Dutch are strengthened by the addition of Essex and Western Province allrounder Ryan Ten Doeschate who has been scoring heavily in Twenty20 matches.
ICC Practice Matches beat United Arab Emirates by four wickets
Coach Bob Simpson
Player to watch Daan van Bunge, a dependable No. 3 who has profited enormously from his time on the staff of the MCC.

Oman

Have enjoyed one of the longest preparation periods of any team. Arrived on June 15 and have played five matches against Northern Irish opposition. Whatever their results, they probably won't be a banner team for the ICC Development Programme - their sole Arab - captain, Ali Akbar, withdrew last week due to recurring hamstring problems and has been replaced as skipper by a Pakistani, Syed Azhar Ali.
ICC Practice Matches beat Denmark by 66 runs; beat Bermuda by 13 runs
Coach Sandeep Patil
Player to watch Hemin Desai - An opening bowler and opening batsman for Oman - learnt his cricket in Mumbai. Played for school and college and then Played A division club cricket. In Oman has played A division club cricket since 2000. Has represented Oman in the 2004 ACC Trophy where he was adjudged Man of the Match four times in Oman's run to the final. Also declared the man of the tournament. Named the tournament's best bowler in the Middle East championships in Kuwait last year.

Papua New Guinea

The long-term build-up, thanks to the ICC's East Asia Pacific division, has been extensive, with two tours of Australia, as well as the bulk of the team competing in the Australian County Championships, matches played over two days. The World Cup Qualifying Series in Malaysia was their fourth tournament together in 12 months. Contrastingly, they landed in Ireland the day before their first practice match against the UAE. A late setback was the loss of their coach Api Leka who was forced to stay at home through malaria.
ICC Practice Matches lost to United Arab Emirates by 196 runs; beat Uganda by three wickets
Coach Paul Joseph
Player to watch Jamie Brazier. Born in PNG but lives in Newcastle, Australia, where he plays A Grade cricket. Was the star of PNG's tournament win in Malaysia which earned PNG its ICC Trophy berth.

Scotland

The tournament favourites with the best preparation of any team thanks to a lengthy Totesport National League campaign. Also contain a batch of players with plenty of experience at county level. Their coach, Andy Moles, says his team just wants to get on the field and get on with the job. Moles' only fear is the weight of expectation and carrying the burden of the future of Scottish cricket. Failure is unthinkable, and likewise, Scotland want the win the tournament unbeaten.
ICC Practice Matches lost to Ireland by two wickets
Coach Andy Moles
Player to watch Colin Smith - talented batsman and reliable wicketkeeper who was one of the players of the tournament in Canada in 2001. A policeman by trade, he will have a busy first week as he commutes back and forth across the Irish Sea, as he will also be on duty at the G8 summit in Gleneagles. He will miss the matches against Papua New Guinea and Namibia.