Almost 12 months ago, a bunch of mostly retired and past their prime cricketers showed up at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for the third match of the "Cricket All-Stars" series between Sachin's Blasters and Warne's Warriors. Next week, some younger (in most cases) and still active cricketers will be in Los Angeles for Division Four of the World Cricket League, to be played in Woodley Park in the Van Nuys area of the city.

That Cricket All-Stars series was billed as "bringing cricket to America". Nothing of course could be further from the truth, as cricket's history in the USA dates back to the early 18th century. Los Angeles itself has hosted a handful of contests in cricket's oldest international rivalry, USA v Canada, most recently just last week with Canada triumphing 2-1 in a three match one-day series.

Don Bradman played in the city at the conclusion of an Australian tour of North America that doubled as his honeymoon back in 1932, playing three matches against Hollywood Cricket Club team and one against a British Born Film Stars team captained by C Aubrey Smith and featuring Boris Karloff.

The perhaps slightly less glamorous Ireland team of 1973 - which included CricketEurope's managing editor John Elder - played in the city on their North American tour, drawing against a Southern California Cricket Association team in a one-day match and losing to the US national side in a three-day contest.

More recently, a few exhibition matches between full members were played here in the early 90s, including one at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. India A and Australia A played a five match one-day series at Woodley Park in 1999 featuring future stars such as Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh as well as future Hong Kong player Ryan Campbell.

This isn't even the first time a World Cricket League tournament has been attempted in Los Angeles. The first Division Three tournament was initially set to be played at Woodley Park in 2007 before a USACA suspension caused the US national side to be demoted to Division Five and the tournament moved to Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.

Another World Cricket League tournament - 2012's Division Four - was scheduled to be played in Florida before being moved to Malaysia due to more USACA administrative nonsense, with some teams having already made arrangements for the Florida date.

Barring something extremely unlikely though, this time it will really happen and the World Cricket League will make its debut in the USA. It is the third time the World Cricket League has been played in the Americas region, with Argentina and Bermuda having hosted Division Three in 2009 and 2013 respectively.

The hosts were relegated from the 2014 Division Three tournament in Malaysia along with Bermuda, Denmark and Italy remained in Division Four after the 2014 tournament in Singapore, whilst Jersey and Oman were promoted from Division Five in Jersey in May.

The USA will be captained by Steven Taylor, probably the best homegrown player the US have produced since Bart King, and have had an extensive system of player trials organised by the ICC - currently essentially in charge of US cricket during USACA's current suspension - in order to select the squad. That selection has unearthed a couple of players previously overlooked at international level.

Whilst few of the USA squad ply their trade in California, most will have played at Woodley Park before in one of the private cash T20 tournaments that frequently pop up in the US. That experience will put them in good stead for the tournament, and their extensive preparation - despite the aforementioned series defeat to Canada - will make them one the favourites for promotion.

The other side relegated from Division Three, Bermuda, enter the tournament in something of a disarray. This is perhaps best summed up by the return to the squad of 46 year old Dean Minors, wicketkeeper for Bermuda in their ill-fated 2007 World Cup campaign.

Minors initially retired after that World Cup, but returned for the Americas Division One T20 tournament in 2011. This is his first international outing since then. Bermuda have warmed up for the tournament with a three match series at home against Canada, though it hasn't gone too well, losing by four wickets in a rain affected first match, by 132 runs in the second match after being bowled out for a paltry 34 and by 71 runs in Sunday's final match.

Injury was added to insult in the final match of the series as vice-captain Terryn Fray broke a finger during the match, ruling him out of the Division Four tournament. Okera Bascome, who played for Bermuda at Under-13 and Under-15 level was ruled out after the ICC ruled he didn't meet their development criteria.

Most worryingly, Allan Douglas - Bermuda's coach at the Division Three tournament in 2014 - alleged recently that players are making themselves unavailable for national team duty as they fear failing drug tests. It doesn't bode well for Bermuda, who could find themselves facing a second consecutive relegation.

Denmark have made a few changes to their squad from last year's European Division One tournament in Jersey, and are still likely to build their batting line up around Freddie Klokker. Amjad Khan hasn't been as successful as Denmark hoped he would be following his return in 2014 after being cast off by England in 2009, leaving one to wonder what might have been had he been able to play for Denmark in his prime.

Aftab Ahmed is therefore likely to lead the pace bowling attack, with Hamid Shah and Bashir Shah backing up him and Khan with their spin bowling. Denmark only missed out at Europe Division One on net run rate, but appear to have fallen behind Jersey in the second tier of European associates. Their Under-19 team played well earlier in the year though, suggesting that a new generation may be coming through to bring the Danish team back up to their previous levels, though this tournament may be too soon for that rise back up to take effect.

Italy, third in that Europe Division One tournament last year, have rung the changes for this tournament in an attempt to arrest their apparent decline. Six members of the 14 man squad are newcomers to the senior international set-up. The side also has what for Italy is an unusually homegrown look, with half of the squad having been born in Italy or played for them at youth level.

Carl Sandri, who has played in the Big Bash League, is likely to be a key player for the team along with captain Damian Crowley. With so many newcomers and youngsters in the squad, they may find it hard to push for promotion, and will instead hope to remain in Division Four.

Jersey, promoted as Division Five champions, will look to end their streak of poor Division Four performances. Twice they have been promoted to Division Four and twice they have come straight back down in last place. They have had the tendency to struggle in unfamiliar conditions, though they are making every effort to acclimatise by playing warm-up matches in Texas along with Denmark.

The Channel Islanders have been hit by the withdrawal of all-rounder Ben Stevens due to illness. Stevens was Jersey's leading run scorer and joint second leading wicket taker in Division Five and his absence will be strongly felt. He will be replaced by senior debutant Elliot Miles, whilst Corne Bodenstein is replaced by the 15 year old Harrison Carlyon, who will become Jersey's youngest ever player if he plays during the tournament.

With the likes of Peter Gough, Jonty Jenner and Ben Kynman still in the squad, Jersey still have the ability to compete in the tournament. With Bermuda being in such disarray and the apparent decline of Italy and Denmark, this is perhaps Jersey's best chance to stay in Division Four, and possibly compete for what would be a second consecutive promotion.

Also looking for a second consecutive promotion are Oman. Whilst they have T20I status in the shortest form of the game, they went through a decline in the 50 over format before gaining promotion from Division Five earlier this year. Their warm-up tour of the UAE earlier this month wasn't the best preparation though as they lost the series 2-1.

They will miss Aamir Kaleem from the squad, though they will be boosted by the return of Amir Ali - star of their famous World Twenty20 Qualifying round win over Ireland - who missed the Division Five tournament through injury. Zeeshan Maqsood - the leading run scorer in Division Five and who has a top one-day score of 199 - will lead the way with the bat, whilst Munis Ansari and his Lasith Malinga style action have seen many associate batsmen struggle.

Oman will likely count themselves amongst the favourites for promotion to Division Three, perhaps hoping for a return to the days where they played in the World Cup Qualifier in 2005 and 2009.

The tournament is part of the rather convoluted 2019 World Cup qualification pathway. The two promoted sides will join hosts Canada, Malaysia, Singapore and hosts Uganda in Division Three next year. The top two teams from that event will join the bottom four of the ongoing World Cricket League Championship in Division Two, with the top two teams from that event joining the bottom four of the ODI rankings and the top four from the WCLC in the World Cup Qualifier itself, currently set for Bangladesh in 2018. Two teams from that tournament will qualify for the 2019 World Cup in England.

The ICC will no doubt be hoping to get some publicity for the tournament in the mainstream US sports media, though scheduling the tournament to overlap with baseball's World Series may preclude that. With the ICC keen to push Twenty20 cricket in the US, it will be interesting to see if they push the 50 over version as heavily.

World Cricket League tournaments are rarely dull, and are probably the most cut-throat events in international cricket. This is likely to be no different and has the added intrigue of the ongoing suspension of the USA Cricket Association and the ICC's attempts to get them to ratify a new constitution.

I will end this preview with a prediction that the USA and Oman will be promoted, Bermuda and Italy being relegated with Jersey and Denmark staying in Division Four to fight another day.