West Indies crash out of 2023 ODI World Cup in India after losing to Scotland, will miss marquee event for first time

Two-time winners West Indies have appeared at every tournament since it was first staged in 1975, but with this loss, their chances of qualifying for the event in India are over.

West Indies are out of the 2023 ODI World Cup contention after getting thumped by Scotland by 7 wickets in the Super Six stage of the qualifiers on Saturday.
The champions of 1975 and 1979 editions, this is the first time in the 48 years of tournament history that West Indies won’t feature among the top 10 teams in limited overs cricket.

Batting first, West Indies were skittled out for just 181 in 43.5 overs with Jason holder top-scoring with 45, followed by Romario Shepherd with 36.Scotland easily chased down the target with the 43.3 overs with the help of Matthew Cross (74) and Brandon McMullen (69), thus sealing West Indies’ fate.This was also Scotland’s first victory over the West Indies.Having lost a crucial encounter in Super Over eliminator to the Netherlands in a Group A match, whichfollowed a loss to Zimbabwe, the West Indies entered the Super Six round with no points and a net run rate which was inferior to the other teams.

                                           

West Indies were always dependent on the outcome of other matches.West Indies did have four points having earlier beaten the USA (by 35 runs) and Nepal (101 runs), but the wheels came off rapidly owing to poor cricket across departments.But since they lost to both Zimbabwe and the Netherlands — who both qualified for the Super Six from Group A — the West Indies carried no points further.It appears to be the final nail in the coffin for a cricket team that has been on a terminal decline for the past two decades.While they won two T20 World Cup titles in 2012 and 2016, the performance in two traditional formats — Tests and ODIs have spiralled southwardsIronically, West Indies were forced to play the qualifier before the 2019 World Cup also but eventually managed to finish in top two along with Afghanistan to save themselves from embarrassment.