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Papua New Guinea

Long the kings of the Pacific, Papua New Guinea had a decade of nearly-made-its in ICC qualifiers - narrowly missing out on a place at the 2014 World T20, the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20 - before things finally clicked in the run-up to this tournament, where they secured an automatic berth with only two defeats to Scotland and the Netherlands.  Led by redoubtable skipper Assad Vala, a towering 34-year-old who attacks fearlessly with the bat and bowls some miserly off-spin in the middle overs, PNG have hit on a winning formula in T20 seemingly at a cost to their one-day game, with their record in ODIs proving as disastrous in recent years as their twenty-over form has been stellar.

Vice-captain Charles Jordan "CJ" Amini, whose father and grandfather also represented the national side, may prove a handful to batsmen with his leg-breaks and lower-order hitting, while death-bowler Norman Vanua also shines with toe-crushing yorkers and powerful sixes aplenty.  As World Cup first-timers, PNG will probably be happy enough looking for a scalp in the preliminary round and learning from the overall experience; however, they've shown in the past that when they get on a roll, they can defy expectations with the very best.

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