Six places are up for grabs in the 14-team tournament, with just under one year to go until the World Cup tournament in Australia. 

Scotland, at 12 in the world compared to Singapore's 21, are the highest-ranked team in the competition. 

But they got off to the worst possible start in A Group A thriller at the ICC Academy Ground, Dubai.   

They restricted Singapore to 168-6, with Surendran Chandramohan top-scoring on 51.

Scotland looked to be on their way to victory, requiring just eight from the last over, but eventually fell two runs short on 166-9.

In the other match in Group A, The Netherlands posted 166-4 against Kenya, mainly thanks to 53 from Max O’Dowd.

Despite the best efforts of Collins Obuya, who weighed in with 63 off 40 balls, Kenya fell short on 136-8.  

Group B also got underway as Hong Kong met Ireland at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Hong Kong posted 153-5 with Kinchit Shah scoring an impressive 79.

However, Ireland were rarely under pressure as opener Paul Stirling scored 62, with Andy Balbirnie finishing on an unbeaten 70.

Ireland reached 155-2 with just under three overs to spare.

In the final game of the day, Oman cruised to victory over United Arab Emirates. 

UAE scored 108/9, which Oman chased down easily, 109/3 in 18.2 overs.