Cricket's lesser lights, including Jersey and Nigeria, are chasing a "dream" as qualifying for next year's T20 World Cup gets underway on Friday, but the start of the tournament will be overshadowed by three United Arab Emirates players being charged with corruption.
Scotland are the highest-ranked team in the competition, with 14 nations vying for six places in the opening round of next year's World T20 in Australia, where they would join Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in attempting to reach the 'Super 12s'.
But the hosts' preparations for the tournament in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been thrown into disarray, after captain Mohammed Naveed was one of the trio of UAE players charged by the International Cricket Council on Wednesday.
Batsman Shaiman Anwar and right-arm pace bowler Qadeer Ahmed have also been charged by the ICC, the players facing a total of 12 counts of breaching the governing body's anti-corruption rules, as well as being axed from their country's squad for the qualifiers.
"My family is let down, my friends are let down. Everybody is let down. This was my mistake," the 32-year-old Naveed told The National newspaper.
Naveed added that he had made a mistake in failing to report an approach made to him by a "fixer" who had pretended to be an official representing a franchise in the T10 League, also slated for the UAE in November.
Ireland are the only Test team having to go through qualifying and will be expected to book a sixth straight appearance in the tournament.
"We are here to compete at the world stage," said Irish skipper Gary Wilson.
"We have a great record in the Middle East and the boys are looking forward to a great tournament and ensure we finish right at the top again."
- Jersey chasing 'dream' -
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"It's a dream of ours to potentially play in a World Cup next year."