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The two-time former Cricket World Cup champions the West Indies are closing in on early elimination from the qualifiers this year. The Caribbean team may fail to reach the mega event for the first time in the history of the tournament.
West Indies played 24 Cricket World Cup matches in the Cricket World Cup from 2020 to 2023. The men at Maroon could not perform consistently and ended up finishing 9th in the final standings. Only the eight best teams out of the 13 participants are given a direct ticket to the 2023 World Cup.
The remaining five teams are joined by five affiliated nations in the 2023 World Cup qualifying tournament. Fans have expected the West Indies to dominate the massive event, but they hold no points after two matches in the Super Sixes points table.
Although the Caribbean side still have three matches to play in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers, there are three reasons why their qualification hopes are now almost over.
#1 West Indies one match against Sri Lanka in the round of sixteen
The biggest challenge facing the West Indies in the last 16 will be against the 1996 World Cup champions, Sri Lanka. The Islanders have been on the brink of heat in Zimbabwe, having comfortably beaten Scotland, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Ireland in the group stage.
The West Indies are in a do-or-die situation. They are fifth in the standings, and only the top two teams will qualify for the World Cup in India. The Caribbean team will have to play its best match against Sri Lanka on July 7 to survive the run.
Given the way both teams have fared in this competition so far, it would be a big surprise if the Sri Lankan team lost to the West Indies.
#2 losing to Holland would have hurt West Indies confidence a lot
The West Indies fielded a full strength squad for the 2023 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe. On the other hand, the Netherlands have missed some of their players due to T20 Blast commitments in England.
However, the Dutch side, who had only three wins in 24 Premier League matches, managed to defeat the West Indies. Notably, Shai Hope’s team lost the match despite scoring 375 goals. It would be difficult for the West Indies to soon recover from this defeat and achieve their best Super Sixes performance.
#3 West Indies net run rate is -0.350
Even if the West Indies win the remaining three matches, it is not guaranteed that they will take part in the mega event. The men in Maroon will have to improve their net run rate and then hope Zimbabwe beat Sri Lanka.
After Zimbabwe’s victory, if the West Indies beat Sri Lanka by a large margin, both teams will have six runs scored, and the team with the best run rate qualifies. Sri Lanka net run rate is +2.698 at the moment. It seems extremely unlikely that the West Indies will be able to surpass the islanders’ net run rate in the Super Sixes.
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