2019 World Cup dream still alive for Windies after Zimbabwe's victory over Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe’s shocking win over Sri Lanka, their first away series victory since 2009, has made things interesting as far as the final spot for the direct qualification for ICC World Cup 2019 is concerned. The saying, ‘Somebody’s loss is somebody’s gain’, might become true in the case of Windies.

Sri Lanka entered the five-match series against Zimbabwe with 93 points and ranked 8th. After the agonizing defeat in the final match and subsequently the series, the island nation stayed at 8th rank but lost 5 valuable points. Windies are currently ranked 9th with 78 rating points, only 10 points adrift of Sri Lanka.

Upcoming fixtures for SL and WI

Windies are scheduled to play one-off ODI against Ireland and 5 ODIs against England before 30th September, the cutoff date for ICC World Cup 2019 direct qualification. If they manage to win all the 6 ODIs, it will take them to 88 rating points which will equal them with current Sri Lanka’s points.

But in the same period, Sri Lanka is slated to play 5 ODIs against India. This means that the race is till on, albeit only mathematically. There is also a possibility of the early announcement of final 8 teams to qualify directly for World Cup 2019 on August 24, 2017, according to scoreline.asia.

Scenarios of direct qualification for SL and WI

1. If Sri Lanka manages to win only 2 ODIs against India, the doors would be shut for Windies even if they win all their 6 ODIs against Ireland and England.
2. In case Sri Lanka wins only 1 ODI against India, Windies will go through if they manage to win all of their 6 One Day Internationals.
3. If Sri Lanka loses 5-0 to India then Windies will sneak past them even if they lose 1 match against England.
4. If Sri Lanka loses 5-0 to India and if Windies lose to Ireland then Sri Lanka will go through.

All the aforementioned scenarios look highly unlikely given the fact that the Caribbean team is very inconsistent as far as 50-over matches are concerned. Though stranger things have happened in cricket before and the possibility cannot be completely ruled out of Windies qualifying for ICC World Cup 2019. Interesting days ahead for fans as some fierce and competitive cricket would be played.