Windies’ auto qualification in limbo

THE Nicholas Pooran-led West Indies team will be banking on Bangladesh to beat Ireland, when the two play in a three-match ODI series next year, to gain automatic qualification to the ICC 50-over World Cup in India.

West Indies' woes deepened on Monday when they were deducted two super league points, for maintaining a slow over rate in the 50-over series against New Zealand, where they eventually lost 2-1.

Former West Indies and Barbados opener Philo Wallace is disappointed with the state in which the Caribbean's team has found themselves.

"Once again West Indies have failed and again we are depending on an International team to beat another international team in order for us to gain automatic qualification," Wallace said.

"We should have already qualified for the World Cup, knowing what we had to do. It's hard to fathom how strong we were as a cricketing nation who won the World Cup in '75 and '79.

"So, it's heart-wrenching to see we might have to qualify for an ICC event where we were former champions," he continued.

The former hard-hitting opening batsman also believes cricket has remained stagnant over the years.

"Our cricket hasn't really come a long way in a way that we would have wanted it to come along. So, we have to keep working and try to be better and hopefully put in the performances that can take us back to where we were before," added Wallace.

The West Indies, which is currently in seventh spot in the ICC Super League cycle have won only nine out of their 24 matches played.

Only the top seven teams, along with host India, will automatically qualify for the 2023 ICC 50-over World Cup, while the bottom five teams will have to play the qualifiers.

The Phil Simmons-coached West Indies had to manoeuvre through the qualifiers to play in the last ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.