WIndies and SL vie for direct qualification in 2019 World Cup

July 12 (CRICKETNMORE) - Zimbabwe’s historic series win against Sri Lanka has given the West Indies a glimmer of hope of direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with the gap between two-time former world champions West Indies and 1996 champions Sri Lanka narrowed to 10 points on the latest ICC ODI Team Rankings.

India defeated the West Indies by 3-1 and Zimbabwe overpowered Sri Lanka by 3-2, resulting in changes to the ODI team rankings, giving West Indies renewed hope in the race to the 30 September 2017 cut-off date for direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Sri Lanka had entered the series against Zimbabwe, needing to win by 4-1 or better to secure a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2017. However, the eventual result has brought the West Indies back in contention as Sri Lanka has slipped from 93 points to 88 points, which, in turn, has meant the 16 points gap between the eighth and ninth ranked sides has been trimmed to 10 points.

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According to the current Future Tours Programme, which is available here, Sri Lanka will now have a second chance to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 when it hosts India for a five-ODI series in August. And if Sri Lanka wins two or more matches in this series, then it will qualify automatically for the ICC’s pinnacle 50-over tournament, irrespective of how England and the West Indies series pans out.

However, Sri Lanka’s failure to win two matches against India, will mean the West Indies will still have a chance to avoid featuring in next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

If India beats Sri Lanka by 4-1, then the West Indies will have to win all five matches against England. But, if India sweeps all five ODIs against Sri Lanka, then the West Indies will need to beat England by 4-0 or better.

These permutations give tremendous context to the presently scheduled upcoming ODIs as Sri Lanka and the West Indies will be fighting tooth and nail to secure the eighth and last available automatic place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The remaining two places will be filed by the top two sides from the 10-team ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018, which will be completed by the bottom four sides from the ICC ODI Team Rankings, top four sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and top two sides from the ICC World Cricket League.

Latest ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 11 July after West Indies v India and Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe series):

Latest ICC ODI Team Rankings (as on 11 July after West Indies v India and Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe series):

1.     South Africa      119

2.     Australia           117

3.     India                 114 (-2)

4.     England            113

5.     New Zealand     111

6.     Pakistan           95

7.     Bangladesh       94

8.     Sri Lanka          88 (-5)

9.     West Indies       78 (+1)

10.  Afghanistan       54

11.  Zimbabwe         52 (+6)

12.  Ireland              41

Media Release by ICC