The West Indies team, who were once ruling ODI Cricket, champions of the first two editions of the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, and finalists in 1983 have failed to qualify for the World Cup this year. On Saturday, in a heartbreaking loss to Scotland, they were knocked out of the qualifiers and will miss out on the ODI World Cup for the first time. Following a seven-wicket defeat by Scotland in the super six game of the qualifying tournament , the Caribbean team will not be part of the prestigious tournament.
West Indies suffered three consecutive losses
Their qualifying campaign was already going downhill as they lost their last two matches to Zimbabwe and then the Netherlands. After getting defeated by Scotland, West Indies is yet to win a match in the Super Six. The top two teams from the qualifiers will advance to the World Cup 2023 and join the top eight teams of the 2020–23 ODI Super League. As things stand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe look to qualify for the World Cup.
Caribbean cricket has declined in the past two decades
In the past two decades, there has been a big decline in Caribbean cricket, and now their failure to qualify for the ODI World Cup has been a disaster. The West Indies, under Clive Lloyd, dazzled the tournament in its early years by winning the World Cup consecutively two times and bringing cricket to prominence as a brand. India played its part in ending their dominance by defeating them in the finals and winning the 1983 World Cup. The Windies are also loved by the Indian fans, and they would have liked the West Indies to be part of the event at home.
Scotland cruised an easy win
The West Indies missed out on direct qualification for the World Cup as they finished 9th in the ODI Super League. But their performance was not up to the mark in the qualifying event as well, although they started the campaign with wins, their performance started to fall. On Saturday, the team went all out for 181 runs, and during the chase, Scotland cruised to a comfortable win. During West Indies’ innings, the score read 81/6 after the dismissal of Nicholas Pooran, leaving West Indies in danger of suffering infamy, but all-rounder Jason Holder brought some respectability to the score by hitting 45 runs, and the team failed to defend 181 runs during their bowling.
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