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Ireland

For a generation of breakthrough Irish cricketers who ascended to the international stage from humble, county-level Natwest Trophy roots, the twenty-over game seemed a cypher for a good many years.  Their swashbuckling was reserved for the fifty-over format that they'd cut their teeth on; their World T20 debut against Bangladesh in 2009 proved to be their first and last win in the tournament for fully five years, and remains the only time they've managed to progress past the preliminary round.  But with Test status under the belt, the majority of those trailblazers have now called time on their careers and stepped aside for the next crop of Irish talent, who are altogether more familiar with the challenges of the short form.

Old heads are still at the core of the side, with Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien opening the batting line-up - the latter having been promoted up the order in the last two years with great success - while Simi Singh fronts the attack and Andrew Balbirnie fills the all-rounder slot.  But 21-year-old Harry Tector (already one of Ireland's top ten T20 run-scorers of all time) and 22-year-old Curtis Campher are leading the way for the youth, while Gareth Delany has nailed down a place in the middle order since his 2019 debut with huge hitting capability and a handy line in economical wrist-spin.  With the bang-in-form Mark Adair handling death-bowling, this is a team capable of beating any opposition on their day; a warm-up win against Bangladesh in which Delany shone with an unbeaten 88 amply demonstrated that much.  But consistency - long the Irish Achilles heel - must be present if they're to shake off their World T20 curse and make their mark at this tournament.

Highest World Cup total: 189-4 vs Netherlands (Sylhet, 2014)
Lowest World Cup total: 68 vs West Indies (Guyana, 2010)
Leading World Cup run-scorer: William Porterfield, 253 runs
Best World Cup innings: Paul Stirling, 60 vs Zimbabwe (Sylhet, 2014)
Leading World Cup wicket-taker: Alex Cusack & George Dockrell, 11 wickets
Best World Cup bowling figures: Alex Cusack, 4-18 vs Sri Lanka (Lord's, 2009)