With two victories under their belts the Dutch squad will be looking forward confidently to their remaining group matches, starting with the United Arab Emirates at Senwes Park on Saturday.

The major plus, of course, is the form of the top-order batsmen: with centuries for Ryan ten Doeschate and Alexei Kervezee, splendid innings by Bas Zuiderent and Eric Szwarczynski, and the luxury of choice between Darron Reekers and Tom de Grooth as an opening partner for Kervezee, the batting could hardly be looking healthier.

And Daan van Bunge hasn't even made it to the middle so far – although however delighted he is with his top five, coach Peter Drinnen will be wanting to make sure Van Bunge gets a bat before too long.

The bowling is more of a mixed bag, but Edgar Schiferli has produced two top-class opening spells, and Mudassar Bukhari was also impressive early on against Kenya.

The injury to Peter Borren is clearly a worry, and it will be no surprise if he misses Saturday's game.

That will give Drinnen some interesting options: whether to bring in Ruud Nijman or Maurits Jonkman, or to play a second specialist spinner in Muhammad Kashif, or even to pick both Reekers and De Grooth, with the latter dropping down the order.

His thinking about this choice will no doubt be influenced by the way in which Van Bunge and De Grooth filled the gap left by Borren against Denmark on Thursday.

Pieter Seelaar, though, has yet to take a wicket in the tournament, and nor is Ten Doeschate bowling at his best. Both the number of extras, especially wides, conceded and the growing number of dropped catches will be further matters of concern for the Dutch.

Their opponents on Saturday have had a mixed start to the tournament: having bowled Bermuda out for 187 on the opening day to win by four wickets, they were themselves dismissed for 79 by Kenya on Thursday, only opener Arshad Ali and middle-order batsman Naeemuddin Aslam reaching double figures.

They clearly found Kenya's four-man seam attack more than they could handle, and even in the Bermuda game they struggled somewhat against George O'Brien and Stefan Kelly.

In Arshad Ali, Saqib Ali and Khurram Khan, however, they have batsmen capable of playing substantial innings, though if The Netherlands' attack is anywhere near its best form it is questionable whether the UAE will be able to score enough, or quickly enough, to mount a serious challenge.

The Afghans, meanwhile, march on, having won their first two games, and will face the most testing challenge of their odyssey so far when they meet the Kenyans at ABSA Puk Oval on Saturday.

Should they rise to the occasion and match a Kenyan side which recovered well on Thursday from its defeat by the Dutch the day before, then they will indeed have to be taken as serious contenders for ODI status, if not for a place in the World Cup itself.

The advent of new wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shehzad and the undoubted quality of Hamid Hassan and Mohammad Nabi notwithstanding, however, one would expect the class and experience of Kenya to tell in the end.

For Bermuda and Denmark, who meet at Isak Steyl Stadium, Vanderbijlpark, qualification for the Super Eights is beginning to look like a distant dream.

The winner of this match will give themselves a chance of recovery, and even the loser will not yet be mathematically out of the hunt. But realistically, neither of these teams seems likely on current form to make much impact on the tournament.

After four years in the top flight, Bermuda have the experience to fight back, but they will need a series of significant batting performances from the likes of David Hemp, Irving Romaine and Lionel Cann if they are to reverse the decline and maintain their status for another cycle.