West Indies fail to qualify for Champions Trophy
Wednesday 30 September 2015 13:16, UK
West Indies will not take part in the 2017 Champions Trophy because they were not in the top eight of the ICC ODI rankings at the September 30 cut-off date.
The dominant international team in the world in the 1980s, the West Indies have fallen a long way since the glory days and will now miss one of the big three limited overs events (World Cup, Champions Trophy and Twenty20 World Cup) for the first time ever.
The West Indies are one of only a trio of teams to have won all three events, having claimed the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, the Champions Trophy in 2004, and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2012.
However, they have been struggling of late and have been plagued by rows over player contracts, which led to them having to abandon a tour of India last year.
And, in a further sign of disarray, coach Phil Simmons was suspended earlier this week after making what were deemed contentious remarks regarding the selection of the ODI squad to tour Sri Lanka.
Despite a group stage loss to Ireland, the West Indies scraped into the quarter finals at the World Cup earlier this year on net run-rate but were then thrashed in the last eight, losing by 143 runs to eventual finalists New Zealand.
Bangladesh are seventh in the ODI rankings, and they will therefore take part in the Champions Trophy for the first time since 2006.
Host nation England are automatically granted a berth and the other qualifiers are Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, who edged out the West Indies for the final place.
The tournament will take place from 1-18 June, with the eight qualified teams separated into two pools of four and the top two from each group advancing to the knock-out phase.
The top eight teams in the one-day rankings as of September 30 2017 will earn direct qualification to the group stage of the 2019 World Cup.
And the eighth-placed Windies are currently on 88 points, just two behind Pakistan.
The Test rankings also paint a sorry picture for West Indies fans as they are eighth of the 10 Test-playing nations, with just Bangladesh and Zimbabwe rated below them.
They are faring a little better in the Twenty20 ratings, where they lie fifth, ahead of South Africa, New Zealand and England.
