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Eddie Chikamhi-Senior Sports Reporter
TWO former world champions West Indies and Sri Lanka are set to headline the cast during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup qualifier to be held in Zimbabwe in June.
The two cricket powerhouses were confirmed to be among the 10 nations to converge in Harare and Bulawayo in two months’ time after they failed to secure direct qualification at the conclusion of their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League matches.
They will be joined by hosts Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and another team, likely to be Ireland, that have missed the top eight automatic qualifying tickets on the road to the Cricket World Cup 2023.
The five associates that are also set to be part of the final elimination matrix in Zimbabwe have been confirmed following the qualification of the US and UAE from the six-team play-off tournament that ended in Namibia yesterday.
The other teams expected in Zimbabwe for the final qualifier are Oman, Nepal and Scotland, who come in as the top three from the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2.
The 10-team qualifying tournament is expected to take place in Harare and Bulawayo between June 18 and July 9, with only two spots available for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India later in the year.
This is the second time the West Indies are coming to Zimbabwe for the qualifier, whose previous edition was also held in the country in 2018.
Two-time champions West Indies were one of the two successful teams from that event, along with Afghanistan.
While Afghanistan secured automatic qualification this time around, the Windies, who were crowned 50-over World Cup champions in 1975 and 1979, have once again failed to make it among the top teams.
They rounded off their Super League campaign with a 1-1 draw in South Africa last month which left them hanging precariously on 88 points. The Proteas then sealed their fate when they beat the Netherlands 2-0 in their last Super League matches last weekend, to take their tally to 98 points.
South Africa were also heavily involved in the matrix in the last few months, but they have made their case strong for the automatic qualifier spot after the victory over the Netherlands.
Sri Lanka, who won the World Cup in 1996 and were runners up in 2007 and 2011, failed to snatch the top eight spot in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League table after succumbing to 2-0 series defeat against New Zealand last week.
The Asian nation, on 81 points, are sitting in position 10 in the Super League.
This marks the first time in 44 years that the Sri Lankan team will have to play qualifiers in order to earn their place in the World Cup.
Ireland are still in the race for direct qualification in the Super League as they have three matches left against Bangladesh next month. They can still reach 98 points, the same number of points that South Africa have. In this case, the team with the most wins will get the ticket for direct entry.
For the Irish to have hopes of direct qualification, they need to whitewash The Tigers which will take them to 98 points, level with South Africa.
Both would need to avoid the longer World Cup qualifying route that would take them via the final Qualifier in Zimbabwe.
The Chevrons will be among the teams vying for a second bite of the cherry after they missed out on automatic qualification in the ICC Super League, which was used as the main qualification pathway for the 50-over competition.
This is an important event for the Chevrons who last played at the ICC 50-over Cricket World Cup in 2015. Zimbabwe missed qualification to the last event held in England and Wales in 2019 after they failed to make it from the Qualifier which they hosted.
This was the first time since 1983 that Zimbabwe did not play at the ICC Cricket World Cup. They were made to play in the qualifying tournament because of their ranking in their ICC ODI championship after the organisers decided to reduce the number of participants at the main World Cup to 10 teams.
Online Reporter