West Indies recorded their second loss of the Women's World Cup Qualifier in Lahore today (April 14), leaving their hopes of qualifying for this year's World Cup in the balance.
Having bowled Pakistan out for 191, West Indies' hopes of getting their second win of the tournament under their belt would have been high. Afy Fletcher, Hayley Matthews and Karishma Ramharack each took two wickets, with the innings concluded with a ball to spare. However, things started to go wrong from the very first ball of the chase, when Matthews was trapped lbw for a golden duck.
Things went from bad to worse when run outs struck, Shemaine Campbelle run out at the striker's end by wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz in the sixth over, before Zaida James was caught short by Muneeba Ali's throw in the ninth. Two wickets also went down in the 12th over, those of Jannillea Glasgow and Chinelle Henry, before the crucial wicket of Stafanie Taylor left them 87-6.
Cleaning up the tail, West Indies were all out in the 40th over, still 65 runs short of Pakistan's total. Fatima Sana was the pick of Pakistan's bowlers, returning figures of 3-16 from seven overs.
The result means West Indies are now in trouble for World Cup qualification. The top two from the tournament will go through to the 50-over World Cup later this year, and west Indies now sit fourth in the table of six. They have one win and two losses from the three games they played, having lost their opening match to Scotland in a thriller. They currently have two points, with Bangladesh and Scotland both tied on four and Pakistan out ahead on six. Bangladesh have a game in hand over the others in the top five.
The maximum number of points West Indies can now reach is six, and for that they would have to win both of their final two games against Bangladesh and Thailand. Even if they win those two games, if Pakistan beat Thailand as expected, then they would be out of reach. Equally, if Bangladesh and Scotland win just one of their final two games, they will also be on six points, meaning the equation for who takes the second qualifying position would come down to NRR. Given their two tight losses, West Indies' NRR currently sits at -0.526 – significantly lower than the three teams above them.
If West Indies don't qualify, it will be the first time they haven't taken part in a Women's 50-over World Cup since the 2000 edition.
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