Uganda skipper Davis Arinaitwe believes that the current ICC Africa Twenty20 champions have the potential to cause some upsets at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.

The surprise winners of the ICC Africa event, following a six-wicket win over Namibia in the final last July, go into the tournament, knowing they will have to perform well against some of their African rivals, with Kenya and Namibia also in Group B, if it has any chance of progressing to the finals weekend.

"We all know what Twenty20 cricket is like, as anything can happen. We think that Twenty20 cricket suits our style of play and our natural game. It is an ideal kind of format for us. Being the African champions, we feel we have a chance against any team, and come into the tournament as one of the underdogs," said Arinaitwe.

"Our style of play is to try and dominate our opponents. We encourage our batsman to play their natural game and play their shots. We like to play an entertaining brand of cricket."

Uganda has prepared for the tournament with a training camp in Kenya and has turned to its youth development programme to provide them with one of the youngest squads in the event.

The much heralded development programme in Uganda has helped increase the number of total participants threefold in the past 10 years.

Mini cricket is now played in almost 200 primary schools in Uganda, with a comprehensive hardball cricket programme for girls and boys in senior schools also in place, supported by an excellent support system for schools which provides coaching and equipment assistance.

However, Arinaitwe acknowledges that there is much work to be done to continue to raise the profile of the sport.

"The game can only go forward and become more popular and get more acknowledgement from the public," said Arinaitwe.

"In our country, soccer, athletics and maybe boxing are the main sports of the country, so cricket would be ranked as fourth or fifth, alongside rugby.

"A lot of our cricket is playing by the younger generation. We sometimes struggle to retain all of these players, but if you look at the current national team it reflects that we are a young team - when we get to Dubai I am sure we will be one of the youngest teams in the tournament."

Arinaitwe believes that success in a qualification event for an ICC tournament would help transform the popularity of the game, particularly if the team could make it to the ICC World Twenty20 2012.

"We have been to two Under 19 World Cup events before and in those years, cricket had never been more popular in Uganda. Ugandan people like to be able to associate themselves with a team in a World Cup and it is a dream for our country to have 14 players go to represent their country in a Cricket World Cup," he said.

And if Uganda were to achieve a miraculous qualification, who would Arinaitwe dream of playing against at the ICC World Twenty20 2012 in Sri Lanka?

"I would like to play against the West Indies, especially if Chris Gayle was in the side. To have a game against the West Indies, especially Chris Gayle, would be fantastic," he said.