WI hunt qualification points in final ODI

WITH THE three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Bangladesh already lost, the West Indies will be looking to grab a consolation victory, and possibly ten points towards their ODI Super League qualification, when the final match bowls off in Chattogram on Monday at 1.30 am (TT time).

Having lost the previous two ODI encounters against the hosts and, with it 20 points towards their qualification campaign, both coach Phil Simmons and assistant coach Roddy Estwick are banking on Monday’s final meeting to salvage series’ remaining ten points.

The 2020-23 Cricket World Cup Super League is the ongoing inaugural edition of the International Cricket Council’s Cricket World Cup Super League – an ODI league. The league is taking place from July 2020 to March 2023 and serves as part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualification process.

For the World Cup, scheduled hosts India and the top seven sides thereafter on the rankings, will qualify automatically. The remaining five teams will play in a qualifying event - the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier - along with five associate sides, from which two sides will go through to the World Cup.

According to the WI coaching staff, the goal is to automatically qualify and sidestep the qualifier round of matches. As it stands, WI are ninth on the 13-team standings and yet to get off the mark.

“We came here for 30 points but we still have chance to get ten points in this competition. We have got from 122 runs (first ODI) to 148 (second ODI), but we need to get into the 230-250, so that we can be competitive. Give the bowlers something to bowl at, and show mettle in that aspect. But definitely ten points would be the ultimate,” said Simmons on his plans for the third ODI.

The past two ODIs against Bangladesh saw Kyle Mayers (40) top score, in the first, and then Rovman Powell (41) in the second. WI were unable to put up a fight in either encounter as the visitors were skittled out for 122 (32.2 overs) on Wednesday and 148 (43.4 overs) two days later. Bangladesh cruised to victory by six and seven wickets respectively.

According to Estwick, batting, huge partnerships and maintaining momentum remains the regional team’s biggest challenges. He, however, is also gunning for the consolation win and ten points towards World Cup qualification.

“We’re having discussions and coming up with plans to try to see how we can get the scores bigger," said Estwick. "We have to look to the 50-over World Cup in 2023, a lot of our planning in geared towards that.

“But we can’t hide behind the disruptions we’ve got to work with what we have. Continue to work hard and try to improve the overall performances. Even though we’ve lost the series, we still have ten points up for grabs is we have to put in a way better performance than we have done so far,” he said.

After Monday’s final ODI, the WI Test team begin their two-match series against Bangladesh from February 2-6 (Chattogram) and then from February 10-14 (Dhaka).