Windies out of World Cup

Two-time champion West Indies will miss the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time in its storied history after losing to Scotland in the Super Six stage recently.

West Indies had previously played in every One-Day International World Cup since the inaugural edition in 1975, which it won before retaining the title in 1979 but failed to make the tournament which starts in India in October.

The Caribbean side needed to beat Scotland to stay in the competition but lost by seven wickets in their third defeat in the tournament after they also lost to Zimbabwe and the Netherlands.

The disastrous performance have raised alarm in the Caribbean and continues the team’s decline in the shorter format of the game after failing to get out of the group stage at last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, a tournament it’s won twice.

The side, led by Shai Hope and coached by former Captain Darren Sammy, limped out of contention for a place in CWC 2023 India with another indifferent performance that ended in a seven-wicket defeat against Scotland in the qualifying tournament at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe.

West Indies were bundled out for 181 in 43.5 overs after they were sent in to bat with all-rounder Brandon McMullen taking 3 for 32 from nine overs and undermining their batting.

Jason Holder hit the top score of 45 and Romario Shepherd made 36 and they shared 77 for the sixth wicket to bring some respectability to the batting, after the Caribbean side slumped to 81 for six in the 21st over.

Holder and Shepherd fell in successive overs and they were two of the four wickets that fell for 23 in the span of 44 balls to leave West Indies needing a miracle in the field to collect their first points in this stage of the tournament.

There was another average performance in the field from the Caribbean side and opener Matthew Cross with an unbeaten 74 and McMullen with 69 that made him a shoo-in for the Player-of-the-March award and enabled Scotland to successfully chase the target with ease.

West Indies have no points in the Super Six stage and cannot overhaul Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, which have six points each from their three fixtures.

The win for Scotland moves them to four points, and they remain in contention with matches against Zimbabwe and the Netherlands.

The top two teams in the Super Six table qualify for the World Cup, which will be staged in India from October 5 to November 19.