Although rain ruined its opportunity to win the Qualifier event, as the final against Netherlands was abandoned without a ball being bowled, it was named the top Associate seed for the event on the basis of its Reliance Mobile ICC ODI Ranking.

However, it came close to being eliminated from the tournament after Bermuda failed to chase a target of only 46 in nine overs in the group stages of the qualifier.

Ireland missed out on the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 2007 event as it came fifth in the six-team qualifying event in Nairobi so it will be determined to have an impact on the event this time in a group which sees them face India and Bangladesh.

Ireland has only ever played India on one occasion, crashing to a nine-wicket ODI defeat in a rain affected match in June 2007, despite Niall O’Brien making a fifty.

Since overcoming Bangladesh at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, it suffered three heavy defeats fielding an under strength team in March 2008.

Ireland’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

William Porterfield (captian), Andre Botha, Jeremy Bray, Peter Connell, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien (wk), Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Regan West, Andrew White, Gary Wilson.

They will also face Pakistan at Lord’s, the home of cricket, in what could be a decisive match if the hosts win its opening two games.

One of the key players in the tournament for the Dutch will be Ryan ten Doeschate, an excellent all-rounder who has starred for Essex and Western Province in domestic cricket, and who was instrumental in his side’s qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

Alex Kervezee has already established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in Associate cricket and has a county contract with Worcestershire, while skipper Peter Borren is also very experienced.

At the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, it recorded a victory over Scotland, although most fans will remember the campaign for Daan van Bunge conceding six sixes in an over off Herschelle Gibbs from South Africa.

Netherlands’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Jeroen Smits (captian & wk), Peter Borren, Mudassar Buhkari, Tom De Grooth, Maurits Jonkman, Alexei Kervezee, Dirk Nannes, Ruud Nijman, darren Reekers, Edgar Schiferli, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski, Ryan ten Doeschate, Dan van Bunge, Bas Zuiderent.

This followed on from a five-wicket defeat by Ireland in the group stages, although Scotland coasted to an easy eight-wicket win over Bermuda.

Scotland, who will rely on the experience of the likes of Gavin Hamilton and John Blain, will face a challenge if it wishes to qualify for the latter stages of the ICC World Twenty20 2009 as it will play group matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

It played in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 event and lost to Pakistan by 51 runs, despite 46 from Fraser Watts.

The game against India was abandoned due to rain.

Scotland’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Gavin Hamilton (captain), Richie Berrington, John Blain, Kyle Coetzer, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Neil McCallum, Navdeep Poonia, Dewald Nel, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Jan Stander, Fraser Watts, Ryan Watson, Craig Wright.

They bounced straight back in the Super Eight stage, beating India by 10 runs in a close contest. The key contributions coming from Craig McMillan (44 runs from 23 balls) and Jacob Oram (35 from 15 balls) with the bat and skipper Daniel Vettori – who claimed four wickets, effected a run-out and took two catches – in the field.

Against England it looked like a defeat was on the cards until the experience of Bond and Vettori helped rein in the England batsmen and steer New Zealand to a five run victory.

Their final group game was a six wicket defeat to South Africa but by then their semi-final berth had been secured.

But as has so often been the case, they stumbled at the semi-final stage as Pakistan cruised to a six-wicket win after limiting the Kiwis to 143. Ross Taylor provided the only bright moment with 37 in 23 balls, otherwise it was an easy victory for Pakistan, which included a half century by Imran Nazir.

With Taylor developing all the time, Brendon McCullum renowned as one of the most destructive T20 batsmen and the guile of Vettori with the ball, New Zealand could be a contender in 2009.

New Zealand’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum (vice-captain & wk), Peter McGlashan (wk), Neil Broom, Martin Guptill, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Scott Styris, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien.

They failed to continue this form into subsequent matches, losing by seven wickets to South Africa in their second group game and getting thumped by Australia and Sri Lanka in the Super Eights.

The match against Australia was most memorable for Brett Lee’s impressive bowling which was rewarded with the first ever hat-trick in T20 Internationals. Lee’s impressive display helped restrict Bangladesh to only 123 which the Australians knocked off with seven overs to spare.

Sri Lanka further increased Bangladesh’s miseries with a win by 64 runs which put Bangladesh out of contention and although they also lost their final match against Pakistan they went down fighting with Zunaed Siddique firing an impressive 71 in 49 balls.

Bangladesh will go into the 2009 event as outsiders but always have the potential to spring a surprise, particularly in Twenty20 cricket.

Bangladesh’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddique, Roqibul Hassan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mahmud Ullah, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun.

Sanath Jayasuriya batted with characteristic freedom scoring a 44-ball 88 and Jehan Mubarak’s late fireworks lifted Sri Lanka to a record team score of 260 for 6, a target way out of reach for the opposition as Kenya managed just 88. Sri Lanka won by a record margin of 172 runs.

Against New Zealand, Jayasuriya displayed fireworks once again with a 44-ball 61 to win by seven wickets. A delightful cameo of 37 at the end from Mahela Jayawardene was enough to punish New Zealand as Sri Lanka maintained their perfect record in the competition.

However, the Super Eight League saw them lose out to Pakistan as they were choked by 33 runs. Lasith Malinga picked up three wickets including that of Man of the Match Younis Khan but it was not sufficient to rescue them from defeat. Chasing a total 189, the openers failed to deliver and the team was bundled out for 156 runs.

Close after this defeat, Sri Lanka stormed to a 64-run win against Bangladesh. The victory pushed Bangladesh out of contention for a semi-final place, and left Sri Lanka needing to beat Australia to progress to the final four.

But the Australians produced one of the displays of the tournament to deliver a 10-wicket knockout punch to the Lankans.

It was a day Sri Lanka would like to forget. After being dismissed for only 101, they could not stop the Australian run-chase as they achieved the target in half the time with all wickets intact.

Even if Jayasuriya doesn’t make it to England in 2009 Sri Lanka will still have one of the strongest batting line-ups with the experienced Mahela Jayawardena and Kumara Sangakkara likely to comprise a formidable middle-order while Lasith Malinga’s sling-arm action is capable of destroying the best line-ups.

Sri Lanka’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayewardene, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Farveez Maharoof, Jehan Mubarak, Indika de Saram.

South Africa followed this victory with a seven-wicket win against Bangladesh in the other Group match. Chasing a target of 145, the hosts made 146 for three in 18.5 overs to thump Bangladesh by seven wickets and finish top of the group.

England provided an early scare in the first Super eight match as Stuart Broad picked up three wickets to limit South Africa to 154. Despite some high quality batting from batsman Owais Shah, England fell short by 19 runs thanks in no small part to the swing and guile of veteran Shaun Pollock.

South Africa continued their winning streak as they romped home with six wickets in hand in the next game against New Zealand with Justin Kemp hitting 89 runs in 56 balls – an innings that included six boundaries and sixes.

With eyes firmly set on a semi-final berth, South Africa looked forward to continuing their winning run against India but their first defeat of the tournament was also enough to knock them out of the event.

A sensational spell of 4 for 13 from Rudra Pratap Singh dumped South Africa out of their own Twenty20 party as India romped to a comprehensive 37-run victory.

It was a disappointing end for a side that boasted some of the best-performing players of the tournament. Both Herschelle Gibbs (90) and Justin Kemp (89) featured in the top five highest individual scores in the event. Kemp also found a place on the most number of sixes list with 10 sixes in five matches. Morne Morkel was the third best bowler for his figures of 4 for 17 against New Zealand.

In the fielding lists, AB de Villiers was rated as the best fielder for his six catches in four matches and Graeme Smith featured at number five with four catches.

Though they failed to make the semi-finals in the event in 2007, South Africa showed they have the potential to be a strong contender in 2009 and if the skipper Smith can hit a rich vein of form at the top of the order and Dale Steyn is at his destructive best with the ball they will be difficult to stop.

South Africa’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Graeme Smith (captian), Johan Botha (vice-captian), Yusuf Abdulla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe.

Many people said before the tournament started that the ICC World Twenty20 2007 could provide the lower-ranked sides the chance to shine. And having beaten both India and South Africa at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the West Indies, Bangladesh pulled off another shock in Johannesburg.

Gayle failed to put a run on the board and only a half century by Devon Smith helped West Indies reach 164 as Shakib Al Hasan claimed four wickets.

A spirited Bangladesh then galloped to the target thanks to two brilliant half centuries from Aftab Ahmed and captain Mohammad Ashraful to win the match by six wickets and send the West Indies packing.

Though many of the West Indies players had taken part in the Stanford Twenty20 they had never hosted a T20 International match in the Caribbean before this competition. That has now been rectified and with more experience under their belts and Gayle still likely to be a prominent threat at the top of the order they will expect to progress from the group stage in 2009.

West Indies’ 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Chris Gayle (captian), Denesh Ramdin (wk), Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, David Bernard jnr., Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor.

Against Australia in their next match though, England were restricted to 135 all out in their 20 overs and the opposition had no trouble knocking off the runs.

The victory over Zimbabwe had been enough to secure qualification to the Super Eights but there were to be no further victories. First South Africa beat them by 19 runs with Albie Morkel’s 43 runs in 20 balls changing the match and the veteran Shaun Pollock putting in a vintage performance with the ball.

They went on to lose a tight match against New Zealand by five runs before falling 18 runs short against India.

The game against India is one which the side would like to forget. Yuvraj Singh set the Kingsmead Cricket Ground alight with an amazing show of power hitting, becoming the first man in the history of Twenty20 cricket to hit six sixes in an over. England fast bowler Stuart Broad was at the receiving end of man of the match Yuvraj Singh’s whiplash blade.

England will be expecting to do better than their solitary victory over Zimbabwe when they host the tournament in 2009. Kevin Pietersen will be pivotal and there will be many fingers crossed that Andrew Flintoff can find his best form with both bat and ball before the event.

England’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Paul Collingwood (captain), Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Adil Rashid, James Kirtley, Darren Maddy, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wk), Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Jeremy Snape, Vikram Solanki, Chris Tremlett, Luke Wright.

They began by beating Scotland by 51 runs and then tied with India after a fantastic display by Misbah-ul-Haq. The India match was resolved by a bowl-out with India emerging on top by a 3-0 margin. It was the first time that a bowl out was needed in the ICC World Twenty20 but both teams still went through to the Super Eights.

A 101-run partnership between Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik and some inspired bowling from Shahid Afridi proved to be the key to Pakistan’s first victory of the Super Eight stage, by 33 runs against Sri Lanka. Their winning streak continued as they defeated Australia by six wickets and Bangladesh by four wickets. With these victories, Pakistan confirmed a semi-final berth.

In the semi-final against New Zealand, captain Shoaib Malik stroked a fabulous six to take his team to victory in majestic style. Imran Nazir scored 59 runs from 41 balls and Mohammad Hafeez scored 32 from 21 chasing a total of 144. Umar Gul generated awkward bounce for the New Zealand batsmen, mixed it up with yorkers and slower deliveries and picked up the Man-of-the-Match award for his impeccable figures of 3 for 15 from four overs.

In the final against arch-rivals India, there was no time to chew finger-nails or even think of thumping hearts as India’s bowlers dug deep in their self-belief in successfully defending a low total of 157 for five with an emotional five-run victory at the magnificent Wanderers Cricket Stadium. Pakistani fans were in tears when Misbah-ul-Haq took the side so close to victory and could not seal the win to claim the trophy.

The Indians, restricted to 157-5 after electing to take first strike in good batting conditions, fought back to bowl out valiant Pakistan for 152 before a sell-out crowd of 32,000. Pakistan appeared out for the count when they were reduced to 104-7 after 16 overs, but Misbah-ul Haq gave the Indians a scare with a late charge of 43 off 38 balls.

Misbah and his tail-end partners took 19 runs in the 17th over bowled by spinner Harbhajan Singh, 13 in the 18th of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and seven runs in the 19th from Rudra Pratap Singh, leaving 13 to get off the final over. Seamer Joginder Sharma bowled a wide off the first ball and was hammered for a six by Misbah with the second legitimate ball, but gave India victory with his next delivery as the batsman holed out to fine-leg. With this loss, Pakistan’s jinx of never having beaten India in a World Cup or world championship match continued.

Pakistan will be looking to break that sequence in England in 2009 but, most importantly, they will be hoping to go one better and claim their first global event title since Imran Khan lifted the World Cup in 1992.

Pakistan’s 15-men squad for ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England:

Younis Khan (captain), Misbah-ul-haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Mallik, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Iftikar Anzum, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Aamir, Shahzaib Hasan, Saeed Ajmal.