Watch: Matthew Cross pulled a short ball off Romario Shepherd to the mid-wicket boundary to officially end West Indies’ 2023 World Cup qualification hopes today in the World Cup Qualifier Super Six match in Harare.
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West Indies lost their first Super Six match against Scotland today (July 01) by seven wickets, their third consecutive World Cup Qualifier defeat, which has officially eliminated them from the qualification race for the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Put in to bat, West Indies got off to the worst possible start at the Harare Sports Club against Scotland. They lost a wicket each in their second, fourth, sixth, and seventh overs that found them reeling at 30-4.
The middle order gave glimpses of redemption, with Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran stitching a 30-run partnership for the fifth wicket and Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd putting on 77 for the seventh wicket. But they couldn’t take West Indies past 200 as they folded for 181.
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Scotland began the chase poorly, losing opener Christopher McBride off the first ball of the innings, raising the hopes of a West Indies fight back. It wasn’t to be though, as Matthew Cross and Brandon McMullen scored half-centuries and added 125 runs for the second wicket taking Scotland to a comfortable position.
From that stage, a Scotland victory became a formality. Having batted beautifully through the innings, Cross stayed till the end and finished it off, pulling a half-tracker by Shepherd to the mid-wicket fence for four and ending West Indies’ World Cup chances once and for all.
Ian Bishop, who was there on commentary during West Indies’ last ICC trophy success, the 2016 T20 World Cup, was poetically present today as well, calling perhaps what is the lowest point in the history of West Indies cricket.
