Big Change - West Indies do not qualify for the ODI World Cup in 2023.
West Indies have been eliminated and not qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup after losing to Scotland in the Super Six stage of the current World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe. Only the two tournament finalists advance to the World Cup in India later this year, and the West Indies are no longer in contention. They won the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, and finished runners-up in 1983; the 13th edition of the championship will be the first without the Caribbean squad. The West Indies were forced to compete in the World Cup Qualifiers since they finished ninth in the ODI Super League, and only the top eight teams earn direct access to the ten-team event. They were placed in Group A of the Qualifiers alongside Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, the United States, and Nepal, and the tournament structure was such that the top three teams from each of the two groups advanced to the Super Six stage. The teams that advanced, on the other hand, would carry forward points gained from their results against the other teams who qualified from their group. West Indies opened the Qualifiers with victories over the United States and Nepal, but then fell to Zimbabwe and the Netherlands. So, while they qualified for the Super Six, they carried 0 points into that round, whereas Zimbabwe carried four and the Netherlands two. Sri Lanka qualified for the Super Six from Group B with four points, Scotland with two, and Oman with none. Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka then won their first Super Six games, giving them a total of six points. It left the West Indies having to win all three of their remaining games - against Scotland, Sri Lanka, and Oman - to catch up to Zimbabwe or Sri Lanka. With the loss against Scotland, the West Indies can only collect four points - not enough for a top-two finish and a trip to India in the World Cup. This failure extends the West Indies' slump in the limited-overs format. They only just made it to the 2019 ODI World Cup in England via the World Cup Qualifiers, when they defeated, coincidentally, Scotland in a rain-soaked contest. They were thus eliminated from the Super 12 stage of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia after winning only one of their group matches (against Zimbabwe) and losing two (against Scotland and Ireland). Read the full article
