It might not be usual to speak of a ‘group of death' when a tournament involves only two pools, but there can be little doubt that Group B is the tougher by a distance of the groups in the World Twenty20 qualifier.

At least six of the eight sides could, if things go their way, have a realistic chance of finishing in the top three and reaching the play-offs, and it seems pretty certain that there will be plenty of thrills and spills as the teams battle it out over the next ten days.

Top seeds and undoubted favourites will again be Ireland, with William Porterfield leading a squad which includes many of those who have taken the Green Machine on its tremendous five-year odyssey which began with the 2007 World Cup.

Chief among them is former captain Trent Johnston, at 37 still capable of troubling batsmen and resolutely giving away as little as possible, while Kevin O'Brien's power with the bat and useful seam bowling are likely to make him one of the star allrounders of the tournament.

Elder brother Niall may be missing from the squad, but Gary Wilson is an experienced replacement behind the stumps as well as a useful member of the batting line-up, and with Porterfield himself, Ed Joyce and the explosive Paul Stirling the Irish seem set to pile up plenty of runs.

A pace attack built around Boyd Rankin and Johnston is a proven component of Ireland's success in all forms of the game, but their trump card here may be slow left-armer George Dockrell, still only 19 and already one of the finest spinners outside the Test arena.

The draw means that Ireland will face traditional rivals Scotland in the group phase, and their clash at the Dubai Cricket Stadium on 18 March is set to be one of the hardest-fought contests of the tournament.

Scotland may have lagged a little behind the Irish in recent years, but they too have plenty of experience in a squad which is starting to show the benefits of some careful rebuilding.

Kyle Coetzer is now arguably the best-established of the Scottish batsmen, with plenty of county and international experience behind him, but with the even more experienced Fraser Watts, Preston Mommsen and the rapidly-emerging Ryan Flannigan also in the line-up Scotland have the capacity to score rapidly.

The seam attack of Gordon Goudie, Matthew Parker, Richie Berrington, skipper Gordon Drummond and Safayaan Sharif has plenty of depth, but again it may be Majid Haq whose spin bowling will be key to the side's ultimate success.

Italy, the third of the European teams in Group B, lost to Denmark in the final of the European qualifier, but they are significantly strengthened here by the acquisition of former Australian international Michael di Venuto and South African-born Middlesex allrounder Gareth Berg.

Allrounder Andy Northcote and the aggressive middle-order batsman Peter Petricola are also likely to pose problems for opposing bowlers, while there is plenty of variety in an Italian attack which includes the seam of Gayashan Munasinghe, Damian Fernando and Dilan Arsakulasuriya (confusingly also sometimes known as Fernando), and the spin of Northcote and Stanley Jayasena.

Of the three African sides in the group, it is Kenya who have the best historical credentials, but it may be Namibia who have the best chance of reaching the play-offs.

In captain Craig Williams, Sarel Burger, Louis van der Westhuizen and the big-hitting Gerrie Snyman Namibia have a range of batsmen whose methods seem ideally suited to the Twenty20 format, and Louis Klazinga, Christoffel Viljoen and Burger constitute a lively seam attack.

It was Van der Westhuizen, however, who was the Namibians' leading wicket-taker in the African qualifier with 14 and an economy rate of just 4.33, while Burger and Snyman were also among the wickets.

Kenya have struggled to make an impression in previous Twenty20 qualifiers, and they have had problems over availability since last year's World Cup. But they will be back to nearly full strength here, although they will miss opener Seren Waters.

There is no shortage of experience in captain Collins Obuya's squad despite the retirements of players such as Steve Tikolo, Thomas Odoyo and Peter Ongondo, and batsmen David and Collins Obuya, Morris Ouma and Tanmay Mishra, seamers Nehemiah and Nelson Mandela Odhiambo and Elijah Otieno, and seasoned left-arm spinner Hiren Varaiya are all capable of giving the Kenyans a greater measure of success than they have managed in the past.

Another player to watch could be allrounder Duncan Allan, who is one of the most promising of the younger brigade, while Shem Ngoche and James Ngoche have now established themselves as regular members of the attack.

Uganda, too, could conceivably be in the mix at the end of the group phase: they are less experienced than either the Kenyans or the Namibians, but their players' recent involvement in the East African Premier League will have done them no harm, and they have both batsmen and bowlers who are capable of causing shocks against some of the more fancied sides.

Left-arm quick men Charles Waiswa and Brian Masaba and their leading wicket-taker in the African qualifier, Deusdedit Muhumza, will test opposing batsmen, and experienced batsmen like Roger Mukasa, the only centurion in that tournament, Arthur Kyobe and Arthur Ziraba will lead a batting line-up which has the ability to set challenging totals.

Despite a background of administrative disorder, the United States will also have a squad which is capable of playing attractive cricket: new captain Sushil Nadkarni and Orlando Baker proved their worth during the previous qualifier two years ago, while Gowkaran Roopnarine and the former youth international Ryan Corns should ensure that there is plenty of depth in the batting.

And despite the absence of their leading wicket-taker in the Americas qualifier, slow left-armer Bhim George, an attack which includes experienced seamer Usman Shuja and spinners Muhammad Ghous and Azrudeen Mohammed cannot be taken lightly.

The same is true of Oman, who will have the advantage of playing on their own doorstep. Awal Khan, Zeeshan Ahmed, Amir Ali, Adnan Ilyas and Vaibhav Wategaonkar are all able to score quick runs, while captain Hemal Mehta and left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem could prove to be valuable members of the attack.

It is, all in all, an extremely difficult group to assess, especially in a format where one outstanding performance can make nonsense of the form book. Whoever makes it into the play-offs from Group B will undoubtedly have earned their crack at a place in Sri Lanka, and the evenness of the squads makes it all the more regrettable that only two teams will go forward from this tournament rather than the six which was the intention when the qualification process was established.