West Indies crash out of the World Cup race after Scotland loss

Scotland shone with both bat and ball at Harare, and handed West Indies a seven-wicket defeat in their opening Super Six encounter in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023.

This result ensures that West Indies can, at best, finish with only four points in the Super Six stage of the tournament.

It means the Men in Maroon cannot make it to the top two places of the Qualifier, and will miss out on the flight to India for the Cricket World Cup later this year.

West Indies greats dissect ‘dramatic fall from grace’

This is the first-ever time that West Indies will not make it to a senior Men's Cricket World Cup (ODI or T20I).

This was also Scotland's first-ever ODI win over West Indies.

Scotland vs West Indies scorecard

Scotland's emphatic win was driven by exceptional display from their bowlers and a 125-run stand between Matthew Cross and Brandon McMullen.

Scotland lost a wicket off the very first ball, when Christopher McBride hit a low full toss from Holder to the mid-wicket. Any hopes of further breakthroughs were put to rest by Cross and McMullen whose steady stand added 40 runs in the powerplay overs.

Though the West Indies bowling remained disciplined, they were unable to break the Cross-McMullen partnership. Their only chance came when McMullen hit one straight off Akeal Hosein to the mid-wicket in the 12th over, but Kyle Mayers spilled the take. The duo had ensured that Scotland needed just 3.52 runs an over in the second half of their chase. McMullen also got to his fifty in the 25th over.

The Scotland scoring rate picked up soon after, as both Cross and McMullen went for quick runs. Cross hit a hat-trick of boundaries against Sinclair in the 27th over to reach the 40s, before bringing up his half-century in the 29th over. Scotland were steady despite the loss McMullen (69) in the 30th over.

In the overs 26-35, they added 56 runs to close in on the West Indies target. Cross (74*) had captain Richie Berrington by his side, when Scotland eventually overhauled the West Indies target in the 44th over.

In the morning, Scotland's new-ball pair of Chris Sole and Brandon McMullen rattled the West Indies lineup in the first Powerplay. McMullen brought the first three dismissals, Johnson Charles fell while trying to go over the covers, Shamarh Brooks edged one to slips after going at one with heavy hands and Brandon King spooned a simple catch back to the medium pacer.

The West Indian turmoil was exacerbated when Sole uprooted Kyle Mayers' off-stump in the seventh over to leave the side at 30/4.

Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran, the top two run-getters for West Indies in the Qualifier, were left to shoulder the responsibility of a rebuild. Windies would've hoped that the duo would repeat their performance from the Nepal game, where they had added 216 runs for the fourth wicket to salvage the innings. However, there was to be no rescuing act today, as Hope was caught behind off Safyaan Sharif.

Scotland were in complete control of the innings after Pooran fell to Mark Watt in the 21st over. The southpaw tried to swipe the slow left-arm orthodox spinner out of the ground, but managed to hit it towards the deep mid-wicket, where the ball juggled in and out of Christopher McBride's hands before he managed to hold on to it.

The recovery finally came from the hands of former captain Holder and Shepherd, who added 77 runs for the seventh-wicket stand. They made batting look easy and helped the West Indies cross the 150-run mark in the 35th over.

With their presence, the team could've dreamt of a total in the range of 270-280. However, the stand came to an end in the 37th over when Sharif pulled off a one-handed blinder at backward point off Watt to get Shepherd (36). Holder (45) fell lbw in the very next over to give another blow to the West Indies.

West Indies were eventually bowled out in the 44th over. McMullen was the pick of Scotland bowlers with his 3/32.

Earlier, Scotland skipper Richie Berrington called it right at the toss and elected to field. He opined that the pitch would remain good for the entire day, and defending would be a tough ask on this ground.

In team news, Safyaan Sharif and George Munsey returned for Scotland in the place of Jack Jarvis and Alasdair Evans. For the West Indies, Roston Chase and Keemo Paul were out, while Kyle Mayers and Kevin Sinclair were in.

West Indies knew that they were up against a formidable opposition that had won three of their four encounters in the group stages. Their recent loss to Netherlands in the Qualifier had put the Men in Maroon on the verge of missing out on their first-ever Cricket World Cup.