There will be plenty at stake at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom on Wednesday, when Kenya play The Netherlands on the opening day of the ICC World Cup qualifying tournament.

Most immediately, the winners will claim the first points in the battle to reach the Super Eight phase.

But since both sides seem likely to achieve that goal – insofar as the warm-up results provide any guide – whoever prevails in this game will almost take certainly their two points, and probably a positive net run rate, into the longer-term struggle to finish in the final top four and qualify for the World Cup.

And more abstractly, a win on Day 1 will give the victors a momentum which they will hope to carry through into the rest of the tournament, while the losers will know that they are already playing catch-up.

Both sides won their final warm-up games at the weekend, the Dutch moderately comfortably against Canada (though not without a few hiccups), and Kenya by a whisker against Scotland.

The power of the Dutch batting line-up was evident before a ball had been bowled and has been much in evidence through the preparations, and with a top six likely to comprise Darron Reekers, Alexei Kervezee, Bas Zuiderent, Ryan ten Doeschate, Eric Szwarczynski (pictured above, at practice in Potchefstroom on Tuesday) and Daan van Bunge, they are undoubtedly capable of running up big totals.

But in this game they will come up against a Kenyan seam attack of Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo, Lameck Onyango and either Nehemiah Odhiambo or Rajesh Bhudia which is one of the most dangerous in the business, and it is moreover backed up by the spinning skills of Hiren Varaiya, Jimmy Kamande and skipper Steve Tikolo.

The Kenyan batting is a good deal less convincing these days, although Tikolo remains one of the classiest players around, and Maurice Ouma and Collins Obuya have also been in good form.

A worry for the Kenyan camp may be the injury to his left hand opener and alternate keeper Kennedy Otieno (a.k.a. Obuya) sustained in Sunday's game against Scotland, and with Seren Waters struggling for runs it will be interesting to see which opening partnership they actually opt for.

The talented Alex Obanda did not play on Sunday, but may perhaps slot into the top order for this match.

They will be facing a Dutch attack which gains an extra penetrative edge with the addition of Ten Doeschate to its ranks. Edgar Schiferli and Mudassar Bukhari are likely to share the new ball, and both have bowled some fine spells in the warm-up phase, although they came in for some punishment against Canada on Saturday.

Pieter Seelaar's left-arm spin and Peter Borren's seam generally maintain the pressure in the middle stages, while Van Bunge offers a leg-spin option and is likely to be called upon as well.

But coach Peter Drinnen has some interesting decisions to make: seamers Ruud Nijman and Maurits Jonkman have both been bowling well, and off-spinner Muhammad Kashif has performed admirably since joining the team in Cape Town.

The Dutch have beaten the Kenyans in their last two limited-overs encounters, in the World Twenty20 qualifier in Belfast in August, and in a rain-abbreviated ODI in Rotterdam later in the same month.

There is an outside chance that there will be thunderstorms in Potchefstroom on Wednesday, so this game, too, may be rain-affected. But all cricket enthusiasts will be hoping that the match goes the full distance, and that it turns out to be the fascinating battle which it appears in prospect.

Elsewhere in Group B, Bermuda will take on the United Arab Emirates at the ABSA Puk Oval at North-West University, Potchefstroom, in a match which could have a crucial bearing on qualification for the Super Eights, while Denmark meet newcomers Afghanistan at Isak Steyl Stadium in Vanderbijlpark.