by Tony McWatt (Barbados Today) Played 21, Won 5 Lost 16. That is this year’s 2022 record of One Day International (ODI) matches played by the West Indies team following its 1-2 loss to New Zealand in the Barbados-hosted August 17-21 three-match series. A record made even more dismal by the actuality of no less than four of those five wins having been against Ireland (1) and the Netherlands (3), two teams well below the West Indies on the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) ODI rankings. The recent August 17 first ODI victory over New Zealand was the West Indies’ only win against a top-five ICC-ranked team this year.
The eventual 1-2 series loss against the Kiwis has now left the West Indies sitting seventh with 88 points on the ICC’s Super League standings to determine automatic qualifications for next year’s ICC ODI World Cup and with no more matches available to be played. Only the top seven teams, plus India as tournament hosts, will secure automatic qualification berths for the World Cup. Australia (70 points), Sri Lanka (62 points) and South Africa (49 points) are, however, among the six teams currently placed below the West Indies. All three of those with sufficient available matches in hand to more than likely accumulate the additional points (10 per win) that will allow each to easily move past the West Indies in the standings by the time the Super League reaches its conclusion.
When and if it happens, the West Indies’ failure to secure automatic qualification to the 2023 World Cup will be yet another colossal embarrassment for the two-time former champions. The West Indies, of course, won both the 1975 and 1979 first and second editions of the ICC ODI World Cup. They were also the unexpected losing finalists to India in the third which was played in 1983. Failure to secure 2023 automatic qualification will add further to the embarrassment the West Indies has already suffered from having likewise failed to do so for this year’s ICC T20 World Cup, a tournament for which they are also two-time former champions.
