Two-time World Cup champions West Indies have their backs to the wall in the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifier tournament having lost back-to-back matches to Zimbabwe and then a sensational ‘Super Over’ loss to the Netherlands this week. West Indies are not carrying forward a single point into the Super Six stages which get underway on Thursday.


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Only the top two teams after the Super Six stages will qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India later this year. Teams will only carry forwards points earned against teams from their group who have moved into the Super Six. Which means Zimbabwe are carrying forward 4 points after their wins over West Indies and the Netherlands while the Dutch are carrying forwards 2 points after their ‘Super Over’ win over the Windies.



WI need to win all of their matches in Super Six


The first thing that the West Indies need to do is win all of their matches in the Super Six stage – against Oman, Sri Lanka and Scotland. Even that might not enough to qualify for the World Cup.


Shai Hope’s side have to pray that some other results should go their way as well. They have to hope that both Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe should lose at least two out of their three matches in the Super Six stages. If SL and Zimbabwe win two out of the three matches, they will move to 8 points and the best that the Windies can achieve will be 6 points with 3 wins.


West Indies need to improve their net run-rate as well


The Windies also need to improved their net run-rate (NRR) in the scenario that teams finish level on six points. Sri Lanka are far ahead (2.698), owing to their thumping win against Oman, when they chased down a target of 99 with 35 overs to spare.


West Indies could still qualify without NRR coming into the equation if, hosts Zimbabwe lose all their Super Six games, Sri Lanka lose to West Indies and win their other two matches, Oman win two, and Scotland and Netherlands win one each. Then Sri Lanka will finish on eight points, West Indies on six, and the others on four each.


“I’m a very positive thinker and I understand the journey that I have to take with this team,” West Indies coach Darren Sammy said. “Sometimes you’ve got to reach rock bottom go come back. I understand the challenges ahead, and I also understand that things won’t change overnight. It’s a true reflection of where our cricket is at the moment and we have a lot of work to do.”