Lights, camera, qualifiers: Big runs and a bigger prize on offer in Harare and Bulawayo

They say the more things change, the more they stay the same, and they could have been talking about Zimbabwe.

Five years and a life-altering pandemic after they hosted the last ODI World Cup qualifying tournament, they will stage the event again. Of all the things that have changed since, what hasn't are seven of the ten participating nations in this year's World Cup Qualifier. That suggests world cricket's second tier is, at the very least, consistent. That's not a word to throw around lightly because the journey to a World Cup is often more arduous than the tournament itself and the pathway to this year's has asked demanding questions of any would-be participants.

Thirteen of them had to play in an ODI Super League, with the top eight automatically going through to the World Cup. The bottom five, including former World Cup champions West Indies and Sri Lanka, have spent the better part of the last four years trying to avoid being here. The other five teams at this qualifier have had the opposite experience and spent the same period doing everything in their power to get here. And some had to try harder than others.

The three who topped World Cricket League Division Two - Scotland, Oman and Nepal - were automatic entrants, but two others - UAE and USA - had to compete in a World Cup Qualifier playoff to get here. Along the way, teams have had to show as much ambition as desperation, and the meeting of these two states of mind means the competition will be fierce as expectations run high.

Already, West Indies' new assistant coach Carl Hooper has wondered whether his team "can go any lower" because he never dreamed he'd "see the day where West Indies are struggling to qualify for major tournaments". Their first opponents are USA, who see this generation of cricketers as laying the foundation for the future. "It is very important for us to have a legacy," USA batter Aaron Jones said.

And the team for whom it's most important to do that is the hosts.

In the last few months, they have become national darlings, more so as the suspension of their football team has extended for over a year. Zimbabwe have never qualified for a football World Cup, but it is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the country. And, without any live action, those who crave emotions only sport can conjure have probably found themselves at Castle Corner.

Though it is an actual place - at Harare Sports Club (HSC) it's the space between the sightscreen and the open stand on the opposite end to the pavillion - it's also a movement. The Zimbabwe Cricket Supporters' Union set themselves up in this enclave and take their duty as player No.12 seriously. They sing and dance, cheer and (sometimes) moan and provide the energy a team needs when the overs grow long and the memories of past failures become sharper.

Captain Craig Ervine accepted that the "scars of 2018 are always going to be there", but he recognised the hope that has permeated over the last year. "We are playing an exciting brand of cricket and we're winning games, and a lot of people want to get involved with that," he said.

With tickets on sale for as little as US$2 and Zimbabwe due to play all their first round matches at HSC, the first week is guaranteed to be what the kids call "a vibe", and there's no better team to kick off against than Nepal. Accustomed to overflowing and passionate crowds in Kathmandu, Nepal's captain Rohit Paudel now wants to see what it's like when the shoe is on the other foot. "We want to know how it feels when [the crowd] comes against you. We want to take that challenge," he said.

Nepal have every reason to be confident. They won 11 out of 12 games to get to the qualifiers and have also secured participation in the 2023 Asia Cup. It doesn't get bigger than that, except maybe playing at a World Cup. "But it's not that easy to beat Test nations," Paudel said. "Everybody has to give their best."

Ultimately, that dividing line could still underline some of the conversations around this tournament. On Monday, in Bulawayo, UAE play Sri Lanka and Oman take on Ireland and both Sri Lanka and Ireland will be wary of taking less experienced opposition lightly because the format of the tournament can become unforgiving quite quickly.

Net run rate will be important - see Afghanistan in 2018, where they made it to the Super Sixes, and ultimately qualified for the World Cup and won the competition outright, despite losing three matches in the group stages. With the Ashes "Bazball" conversation lurking strongly in the background, there's bound to be an emphasis on aggression and the conditions should suit that.

Scores in the warm-up matches were high. Zimbabwe posted 367 against Oman and West Indies racked up 374 against UAE at Takashinga Cricket Club, where the pitch is flat and the boundaries are short. Meanwhile, Ireland successfully chased 313 against USA and Sri Lanka scored 392, also against USA, at Bulawayo Athletic Club, another surface that seems laden with runs.

On strips that will bake under the warm afternoon sun, some deterioration is to be expected and spin will come into play, but the overall sense is that the game has become urgent, and you need to look no further than the windows at the HSC press box for proof. Two of them are cracked, and recently so.

Though Mitchell Johnson (2014) and Rovman Powell (2018) both left their marks at this venue, in suspiciously similar places, the current damage was not caused by them. Nobody can quite remember who or how these new spiderwebs have been permanently imprinted on the glass and while it would make a good pub quiz factoid, it doesn't really matter. It's the mark of the modern game and, given the attention Nepal gave to part of their fielding practice, which involved reaching back to parry a ball destined for six back infield to complete a catch, it's probably permanent.

As is the inevitable growth of the global game, which this competition signals the start of. As it rolls on, there will be grumbles about a ten-team World Cup, but the good news is that this will be the last of those.

Next year's T20 World Cup will feature 20 teams and, being the hosts, neither West Indies nor USA will need to concern themselves with qualification. The next 50-over World Cup, in 2027, will be a 14-team affair, co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Though it is four years away, Ervine said even the senior-most members of his squad plan to be around. The World Cup will move from a ten-team event to a 14-team tournament, and they want to experience the thrills of hosting a big event at home.

By then, significant changes are certain to happen in the country and in cricket, too. For example, there was talk of the floodlights at HSC being put up in time for this tournament but those proved too optimistic. Instead, the steel pylons still stand balding, and the deadline has been pushed back a few weeks and word is that they will be up and running for the start of the Zim Afro T10 tournament that kicks off on July 20. This tournament ends on July 9, so there will only be ten days to get the job done. Given that the wait has already been more than ten years, it seems unlikely it will happen. Things don't change that often or that quickly here but, if we're honest, that's kind of how we like it.