West Indies in must-win match today versus Scotland

Colombo (News 1st) - The long-time glamour boys of world cricket, the West Indies, face a must-win battle today versus Scotland at Harare. A loss would end the 2-time champions' hopes of qualifying for the Cricket World Cup 2023.

Only the top two teams of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier will go through to the World Cup in India in October. West Indies entered the Super Six stage with zero points, but saw their hopes fade over the last two days as first Zimbabwe and then Sri Lanka notched up a win each to take them to six points each. West Indies must therefore win all of their three remaining matches versus Scotland, Oman, and Sri Lanka to reach six points in the hope that they would have a better net run rate than Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe.

Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe are sitting pretty with six points apiece and each has two matches remaining. Even one win in each of their remaining two matches should be sufficient to have them qualify for the World Cup. Sri Lanka's matches are against Zimbabwe and the West Indies; while Zimbabwe faces Sri Lanka and Scotland.

Meanwhile, Scotland is also still in the hunt, currently placed third in the competition with 2 points, but also needing at least two wins out of their remaining three matches to have any hope of being among the top two. Realistically though, their net run rate is far lower than those of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and they must therefore win all three of their matches to qualify. They face the West Indies, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands.

The Dutch took a body blow to their qualifying hopes yesterday when they lost to Sri Lanka. With just two points and only two matches remaining, they must win against Oman and the West Indies in order to have an outside chance of qualifying.

Oman is currently in last place and is already eliminated from contention, although they have two remaining matches versus West Indies and the Netherlands.

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