West Indies are now officially out of the race for the 2023 men’s ODI World Cup after their seven-wicket defeat against Scotland in the World Cup Qualifier Super Six match at the Harare Sports Club today (July 01).
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Having lost games against Zimbabwe and Netherlands in the group stage, they carried forward no points into the Super Six and needed to win all three of their games to have even an outside chance of qualification.
With their loss against Scotland in their first Super Six fixture today, and following the victories of Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in their respective games, whatever mathematical possibility West Indies had of qualification has vanished and the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winners are now officially eliminated from the 2023 ODI World Cup race.
They were put into bat today by Scotland after losing the toss. In a must-win encounter, they needed to get off to a good start. However, the exact opposite happened.
West Indies lost four wickets in their first seven overs and 81-6 at one stage. A late recovery of sorts by Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd took them to 181. It was nowhere near enough to trouble Scotland though as they made light work of the chase. Matthew Cross and Brandon McMullen scored fifties as Scotland won the game with more than ten overs and eight wickets remaining.
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West Indies have two more matches to go in the Super Six, one against Sri Lanka and one against Oman. Even if they win both, they’ll reach a maximum of four points.
Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are already sitting on six points having played just one Super Six match each, which means even in the best-case scenario, West Indies won’t be able to leapfrog them.
Since only the teams which finish in the top two will go on to play in the World Cup, this loss against Scotland officially puts an end to their hopes.
West Indies have not been able to perform well in ICC tournaments since their victory in the 2016 T20 World Cup. Their elimination from the 2023 ODI World Cup – the first time in the history of the tournament – marks the lowest point in West Indies cricket history.
