A long year for associate and affiliate cricket sees its last major tournament start tomorrow, as the USA hosts Division One of the Americas Championship for the first time in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The tournament has already seen some problems before it begins however, with several Suriname players being denied visas by the USA government. Also, the Bermuda v Canada game will not now be the first ODI to be played in the USA as there wasn't enough time to complete the approval process at the Broward County Stadium.

That is perhaps a sign of the administration problems within the USACA. The stadium has been hosting exhibition games for almost two years now, and there has been plenty of time for the USACA to contact the ICC to gain approval since they were admitted back into the ICC fold in April.

The tournament has been expanded back to six teams after only five took part in 2006. The Bahamas, who qualified for the 2002 and 2004 tournaments, will not be taking part after being upset by Suriname in the Division Two tournament earlier this year. Suriname therefore make their debuts, becoming just the second South American side to take part in the event.

Bermuda are the defending champions and will look to retain their title. David Hemp will be their key player, his experience bringing a lot to an often undisciplined Bermuda line-up. Several Bermuda players have been playing out in Australia so far over the Northern Hemisphere winter, which should mean that they are in some form.

Canada will probably be favourites, though they are missing a few players through injury and other unavailability issues. Skipper Sumil Dhaniram has been in excellent form with the ball in ODI cricket this year, taking eight wickets at 24.37, including Canada's second ever five wicket haul in ODIs.

The USA will not want to be completely written off, especially on home soil. For the first time in a long time, they have picked a squad where the majority of players are under thirty, including two teenagers. Lennox Cush, who recently became one of the wealthiest players in associate cricket thanks to his participation in the Stanford Super Series, is in their provisional squad, but may be ruled out with the injury that kept him out of the West Indies domestic one-day tournament.

The other three teams will certainly hope to show that they're not there just to make up the numbers - the Cayman Islands upset Canada the last time after all - but it has to be said that they're unlikely to win the tournament. The Caymans contain two players who look to be a scorer's nightmare - twins Kevin and Kevon Bazil - but will mainly look to the long serving Pearson Best and Steve Gordon.

Both the Caymans and Argentina will be using the tournament primarily as preparation for Division Three of the World Cricket League in Buenos Aires early next year. Argentina's player-coach Hamish Barton, who made his debut against the MCC earlier this year, played for New Zealand Under-19s and first-class cricket for Canterbury and Auckland before he moved to Argentina, and Argentina will be looking to him along with captain Estaban "Billy" MacDermott.

With Suriname's squad up in the air due to the visa issues, I shall not attempt to pick their key players, but it has to be said that they are the long outsiders for the tournament, and will simply be hoping not to disgrace themselves.