Senior places at stake in Under-23 tournament

Next week's European Under-23 Championship tournament in Dublin will be a showcase for a group of players vying for places in their countries' World Cup squads, as well as for those who will be in contention for the next round of qualifiers in 2009.

Hosts Ireland and defending champions Scotland will be keen rivals for the title, but The Netherlands and Denmark will be looking to their increasingly experienced squads for improved performances after last year's disappointments.

As it turned out, the 2005 championship was decided on the opening day, when Scotland just pipped Ireland by one wicket off the penultimate ball in a low-scoring game, and the Irish will be out to avenge that defeat this year. Both countries have an unusual degree of continuity in their squads, with Ireland naming ten players who took part last season and Scotland nine.

In both cases, moreover, there have been opportunities for the players to develop further in the intervening twelve months. Scottish Saltires' squad members Ross Lyons, Qasim Sheikh and Sean Weeraratna all took part in the ICC Winter Academy last year, and Lyons has become a regular in the Scottish side in the C&G Trophy. Majid Haq and Omer Hussain have also been part of the Saltires squad, and both have been making runs for Ferguslie in the SNCL. Weeraratna's haul of 18 wickets for Heriot's FP makes him the leading wicket-taker in the SNCL Premier Division.

Ireland have included six players with full international experience (captain William Porterfield, Gary Kidd, Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Greg Thompson and Gary Wilson) in their squad, and a further two (Kenny Carroll and David Simpson) who were part of the A-side which took part in the EurAsia Cup tournament in Abu Dhabi in April-May. Carroll was another to benefit from the ICC Winter Academy in South Africa.

Several of these are competing for places in the World Cup squad, and one of them-Kevin O'Brien-recently made his ODI debut in Ireland's encouraging match against England in Belfast.

The Netherlands will also have the benefit of players with recent ODI experience: Peter Borren, Mohammad Kashif and Eric Szwarczynski all played against Sri Lanka earlier this month. All three have impressed since breaking into the full national side, and Borren in particular will strengthen a side which struggled last year, only defeating Denmark. Seamer Mark Jonkman is another to have done well in the Dutch international programme this summer, while Maarten van Ierschot and Geert-Maarten Mol will be looking to raise their good domestic form to the international level.

The greater experience of the other three squads underlines how difficult life has become for Denmark as the one Division I side in under-age tournaments which does not form part of the ICC's High Performance Programme. But seven of this year's side played last year, while a further four, including captain Yasir Iqbal, took part in previous tournaments and have earned a recall.

Opener Zishan Shah, who recently made 75 against the touring Kenya A side, is likely to be a key figure in the team-he was one of the comparative successes with both bat and ball in last year's tournament. But the Danes will need a series of good team performances if they are to raise their game and surprise their more experienced opponents.