Afghanistan will go into the Intercontinental Cup final in Dubai on Thursday trying to preserve their unbeaten record in the competition and to win the trophy at their first attempt � and also to end the European monopoly on the Cup which has existed since it was introduced in 2004.

Scotland, their opponents this week, one that first edition of the first-class competition for Associate � and now, Affiliate � nations, and Ireland won the next three.

Despite that, there is no doubt that the Afghans will start as favourites. Their progress has been little short of staggering: having mostly had no previous experience of multi-day cricket, they announced their intentions by getting the better of a draw with a Zimbabwe XI and then won their remaining five matches on the trot, including a 229-run victory over Scotland in Ayr last August.

Any suspicion that Nawrooz Mangal�s side might have trouble adapting to the longest form of the game have rapidly been dispelled, and he leads a well-balanced and seasoned team which will relish the new challenge of a match which is scheduled to last five days.

That defeat on their home turf was Scotland�s only loss in the tournament, although they were in danger of defeat by Ireland when they were saved by Aberdeen rain, and they did not have to meet Zimbabwe after the African side withdrew from a controversial fixture in Zimbabwe which Cricket Scotland had announced it was not prepared to play.

Scottish coach Peter Steindl has had his squad in Dubai for an extended period, so they should be thoroughly acclimatised for what will in many ways be a home game for the Afghans, not least because � if past form is any guide � they will be playing in front of a substantial and intensely partisan Afghan crowd.

The batting line-up is impressive, with wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad the competition�s leading run-scorer with 736 runs at an average of 81.77 and plenty of support coming from opener Noor Ali Zadran (527 at 58.55), Nawrooz (520 at 52), Mohammad Nabi (359 at 39.88) and Samiullah Shenwari (245 at 35). Between them, these five men have hit seven centuries in their six games, Noor Ali having the rare distinction of having scored two hundreds in his first-class debut.

Add in Karim Khan Sadeq and Asghar Stanikzai, who made a crucial 93 against Scotland, and you have a top seven who have proved their capacity to score heavily.

But it has always been the bowling which has been Afghanistan�s greatest strength, and in Hamid Hassan they have a pace bowler of genuine quality, albeit one who prefers not to take the new ball. He was the key factor in his side�s win in Ayr, taking six for 40 as the Scots were dismissed for 139 and finishing with eleven wickets for 155 in the match.

The new ball is likely to be shared by Shapoor Zadran and Mirwais Ashraf, although the squad also includes Khaliq Dad Noori and 18-year-old Aftab Alam. And in conditions which may not offer much help to the quicker men, Afghanistan can call on the off spin of Nabi (22 wickets in the competition so far at 31.95), Nawrooz and Karim, and the leg breaks of Samiullah.

By contrast with the stability of the Afghan side, Scotland have called on no few than 22 players in their five matches to this point, and they are again limited by the unavailability of several who might otherwise have been in the squad.

But they will welcome back Durham batsman Kyle Coetzer, as well as reliable middle-order batsman Neil McCallum and seamer Gordon Goudie, all of whom who missed the match against Afghanistan in August. On the other hand, their only century-maker in the competition, Qasim Sheikh, has controversially been left at home.

A top and middle order selected from Fraser Watts, Ryan Flannigan, Preston Mommsen, Coetzer, McCallum, Richie Berrington and possible first-class debutant Stuart Chalmers will be determined to make the most of what are likely to be favourable conditions for batting, and skipper Gordon Drummond will be looking to them to bat for long periods.

The pace attack will come from Goudie, Matthew Parker, Drummond himself and Berrington, while the spin options include Majid Haq � the Scots� leading wicket-taker with 21 wickets at 22.14 and an economy rate of only 2.07 � Ross Lyons, and Gregor Maiden.

Afghanistan, of course, have to pick themselves up from the disappointment of their last-over defeat by Bangladesh in the Asian Games final last week, and the switch from the game�s shortest form to its longest will not be trivial. But they know that a draw here will be enough to give them the trophy, while conversely, Scotland will almost certainly have to bowl them out twice to win.

Coach Rashid Latif rightly points to the squad�s self-belief as one of the most potent factors in its favour. The way in which they came back after being bowled out for 107 by the Dutch to win by one wicket, and their epic run chase against Canada, where a double-century from Shahzad enabled them to reach a last-innings target of 494 for the loss of just four wickets, proves that the Scots face no easy task.