Ryan Watson admits that if Scottish cricket is ever to realise its ambition of professionalising the national team, the riches on offer in the Twenty20 game must be tapped into.

The Scotland captain said yesterday there were "huge incentives" for reaching next summer's second World Twenty20 in England, after the schedule for the qualifying event, to be held in Belfast from 2-4 August, was released.

Scotland face Ireland and Bermuda in Group A of the six-nation event at Stormont, which offers two places at next June's finals and the winners the chance to grapple with England in their own backyard, perhaps even in the tournament opener at Lord's.

That would be a seminal opportunity in a form of the game that seems to create history with each passing week. Sir Allen Stanford's multi-million dollar promise to England and West Indies comes hard on the heels of the inception of the cash-rich Indian Premier League, the unveiling of a Champions League for domestic teams and the piloting of the world event, staged successfully in South Africa last autumn.

Amateur players like Watson are like paupers standing outside a jeweller's window, rarely if ever afforded the chance to earn even a five-figure sum from a year's cricket, let alone the six or seven digits on offer to the pros. So that makes the Stormont gathering the paramount objective for this summer, apart from August's one-day international against England. An illuminating performance in a televised showpiece at Lord's, the Scots know, could open the key to the safe.

"There are huge incentives here, absolutely no doubt about it," Watson told The Scotsman. "Cricketing incentives and financial incentives. We already know from qualifying for the first World Twenty20 that it brings with it a huge wad of cash."

Cricket Scotland benefited from that achievement to the tune of £128,000, with players landing four-figure bonuses. Watson, while hungry to pick up any rewards on offer in his sport, remains wary of cricket giving too much of itself to the 20-over format. But it seems to be the only format capable of attracting big cash injections from individuals like Stanford and the wealthy Indians, which could be the only way for Scotland to move into a professional environment.

"We have to be realistic, but a lot of cash is starting to appear and it might be vital in terms of what we can get as a jump-start to going professional and getting things like that started," said Watson. "Maybe we can even enter the English domestic Twenty20, which I know we would get decent crowds for.

"Twenty20 has its place in the game, and it certainly suits my style of cricket, but the only problem could be if we play it too much and it loses its appeal.

"The tournament in Belfast is something we will take very seriously, but you've got to take it in the context of being a Twenty20 game, where the margin between the teams is thinner and anything can happen on the day. In saying that, I think our side is quite well-suited to Twenty20."

Ireland are top seeds for the associate event, courtesy of their world ranking of 10 in the 50-over game, with Kenya second and the Scots third. Watson's men take on the hosts on the Saturday and potential surprise packages Bermuda on day two, with the top four locking horns in semi-finals and a final on Monday 4 August.

"All the top six nations are fairly strong these days so it didn't really matter who we drew," said the skipper. "Ireland are rightly favourites because of what they did at the World Cup but we have a good record against them in these competitions. I think the conditions might favour ourselves and Ireland over Kenya, Canada and Bermuda, and hopefully our Friends Provident Trophy campaign will stand us in good stead against teams coming out of season."

Cricket Scotland chief executive Roddy Smith predicted that qualification for 2009 would be worth about the same (£128,000) as it was in 2007, but there are other potential spin-offs. "Because all of the best teams in the world will be in England at that time, we might be able to stage some warm-up matches up here (irrespective of whether Scotland qualify]," he said.

"But more than that, it would allow Scotland fans to watch the team in far greater numbers than last year, and allow our players to put themselves in the shop window."