SCOTLAND'S last trip to the United Arab Emirates for a World Twenty20 qualifying tournament turned out to be a watershed week.

At the end of a feeble sequence of performances against the USA, Afghanistan and Ireland, who bowled them out for 99, Scotland coach Pete Steindl lost patience with the legacy he had inherited, bade farewell to a team who had forgotten how to smile and started again.

Two years and one month on, back in what cricketers affectionately refer to as "the sandpit", Gordon Drummond leads a kindle of leverets who are light on baggage and heavy on enthusiasm, malleable skills and never-say-die states of mind.

Cracks in the fault lines remain – last week's two qualifying defeats for the ODI World Cup at the hands of their Emirati hosts came as a galling setback – and the inexperienced Scots are not high among the favourites to emerge from the 16-team event that begins this morning. But the Gavin Hamilton-captained outfit that melted under the Gulf sun in early 2010 is only relevant now for the purposes of contrast.

"I can't remember the exact side of two years ago but there can't be many survivors from it," says Fraser Watts, at 32 the oldest member of the squad along with reserve wicketkeeper Simon Smith.

Carlton batsman Watts, who sought out individual journalists in Dubai after Scotland's elimination last time to explain that the players were under no illusions as to how badly they had played, believes their rivals this year – Kenya are first up today – will not recognise the team of energetic young all-rounders in blue.

"The team have come on leaps and bounds, and not just in Twenty20. The whole culture of the squad is different now, and the personnel and whole way of playing has changed," says Watts, who misses the opener against Kenya after picking up a one-match suspension for his part in an angry clash last week with UAE captain Khurram Khan.

"The current squad is very young and it's very fearless. We have a lot of young guys who are very talented players and they just play with a fearless attitude –they see the ball and hit it, and bowl the way in the area they want to put it.

"There are no preconceptions to weigh them down."

Scotland qualified for the first two World Twenty20s – Watts hit a memorable 46 in defeat to Pakistan in the only match they completed in 2007, and in 2009 Kyle Coetzer led them to the brink of embarrassing New Zealand at the Oval – but they missed the third incarnation and fell short of last year's World Cup, too.

However, Watts insists: "I still think we expect to win and do well whenever we come to tournaments like these. The main thing that has changed is that the rest of the teams have upped their games a lot.

"There are a lot of other good sides in the tournament. Five years ago it was a case of 'we should win this comfortably', and maybe people don't understand how teams from around the world can be any good at cricket.

"You only have to look at a side like Afghanistan to see how much it is possible to improve. Holland have become a very tough unit and Ireland are a very good side."

Twenty20 narrows the gap between risk and reward, and there will be numerous upsets in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Nations with no recognisable heritage have recruited smartly, with Italy's adoption of prolific Durham-based Australian Michael di Venuto a case in point.

The Italians, the USA (again), Namibia, Oman and Uganda will all believe they can claim the scalps of Group B heavyweights Ireland, and more realistically the Kenyans and Scots.

"That's the way we look at it when we go up a level," says Watts. "There is more chance of an upset than in the past, and that's true as well when we come back to associate level. So what we have to do in certain games out here is go out and reduce the chance of a shock.

"A few sides have picked up some very handy players. Italy for example haven't just got Di Venuto, they have got Gareth Berg from Middlesex as well. We've been doing our homework on these guys and won't be underestimating anyone."

The top three teams in each pool enter a convoluted play-off phase next week, with the last two nations left standing qualifying for September's finals in Sri Lanka.

Now that he is an elder statesman of the squad, Watts, for so long the impetuous rookie, has taken on the familiar role of watchdog in the middle order.

"I was No 3 last week for the one-dayers and the idea there was to allow Kyle to open with Calum MacLeod, who is an explosive player, and my role was just to rotate the strike in the middle overs and bat through," he said.

"In the Twenty20s it will be the same sort of idea, though I will probably be going in at five or six."

SCOTLAND FIXTURES: Today v Kenya (Dubai Academy, 10am), Tomorrow v Namibia (Abu Dhabi, 10am), Wednesday v Uganda (Dubai Academy, 10am), Thursday v Oman (Sharjah, 6am), Saturday v Ireland (Dubai International Stadium, 10am), Sunday v Italy (Dubai Academy No 2, 6am), Monday v USA (Dubai Academy No 2, 10am). All times GMT