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Irish have underperformed at recent tournaments and Scots have toiled of late but both have realistic hopes of the Super 12sFive and a half years since Carlos Brathwaite ended the last Twenty20 World Cup on an unforgettable high, this year’s tournament begins on Sunday with a match for which the phrase low-key doesn’t quite cut it.As Oman take on Papua New Guinea at the 3,000-capacity Al Amerat Stadium in Muscat the key will be positively subterranean. The first round will feature fine cricket and compelling matches, it will see dreams realised and others crushed, but it also occupies a strange hinterland between humble qualifiers and World Cup proper, and whatever happens in the intervening period by the time a new name is engraved on the trophy in Dubai on 14 November the tournament opener will surely feel vanishingly distant in time, space and sheer star quality. Continue reading...