World Cup qualifiers, June 18 - July 9

[mikesiva]

Super Six Two

Sri Lanka 213 all out

Dhananjaya 93
Dimuth 33

Van Beek 3-26
De Leede 3-42

Netherlands 192 all out

Edwards 67*
Barresi 52
De Leede 41

Theekshana 3-31
Hasaranga 2-52

SL won by 21 runs.

When SL and Zim come under pressure, they dig deep and grind out the win....

[mikesiva]

Playoff semi-final

USA 196 all out

Modani 55
Mukkamalla 55

Young 3-35
McBrine 2-19

Ireland 197-4

Stirling 58
Balbirnie 45*

Kenjige 2-41

Ireland won by six wickets with 16 overs to spare.

[bigfluffylemon]

West Indies staring down the barrel at 94/6 against Scotland. Lose this and they're out.

[alfie]

Scotland got the job done...

WI out. Scots can still hope. But Zimbabwe will be tough.

[bigfluffylemon]

What a truly awful campaign for West Indies.

I'm sympathetic to having more than 10 teams in the WC, but they might not even make it into the top 12 at this rate.

[alfie]

What a truly awful campaign for West Indies.

I'm sympathetic to having more than 10 teams in the WC, but they might not even make it into the top 12 at this rate.

How have the mighty fallen...

They've been very poor in Tests for a while. But this format was their bread and butter. Very disappointing for their supporters - and even for those of us who have enjoyed watching their many heroes of former years.

The teams that make it will have earned their spots so can't complain. But a WC without West Indies seems strange.

[mikesiva]

To be fair, it's been years since the West Indies have done well at 50 overs cricket.

The Windies did well at T20s until 2016, after which the decline set in.

But this is a new low!

Super Six Match Three

West Indies 181 all out

Holder 45
Shepherd 36

McMullen 3-32
Watt 2-25
Greaves 2-30
Sole 2-43

Scotland 185-3

Cross 74*
McMullen 69

Hosein 1-26

Scotland won by seven wickets with more than six overs to spare.

[mikesiva]

Super Six Match Four

Zimbabwe 165 all out

Williams 56
Raza 31

Theekshana 4-25
Madushanka 3-15

Sri Lanka 165-1

Nissanka 101*
Dimuth 30

Ngarava 1-35

SL won by nine wickets with 17 overs to spare.

Now, that was a comprehensive victory!

[mikesiva]

Playoff Semi Final

UAE 181 all out

Aravind 44
Mustafa 35

Lamichhane 3-23
Karan 3-36

Nepal 185-7

Airee 79*
Bhurtel 35

Jawadullah 3-46

Nepal won by three wickets with more than six overs to spare.

[andy]

Zimbabwe fielding first again scotland

[andy]

Problems for Scotland 168-6 in the 43rd over

[andy]

Zimbabwe need 235 to qualify for the world cup

[alfie]

Well done Scotland ! Their biggest win , eh ? And gives them a real shot at qualifying now - just need to beat the Dutch - or at least keep ahead on NRR.

Bad luck for Zimbabwe who are basically out now , I think. But this has been an exciting little competition - with a lot of surprises.

[bigfluffylemon]

Scotland

Got to be one of their biggest weeks ever in the game - knocking out West Indies and now Zimbabwe, and in the box seat for world cup qualification. They could still squeeze home with a loss to the Netherlands as long as the match is close.

I doubt the schedulers expected the final match of Sri Lanka v West Indies to be the deadest of dead rubbers - it was probably put last because they were expecting a critical encounter. So with the last three games, two dead rubbers and the chance for WI to avoid total humiliation by at least beating Oman, and one critical clash.

We've been witnessing the gradual decline of West Indies as an international cricket team for the last decade or so. Got to wonder how long West Indies cricket will remain as concept. There are plenty of talented cricketers coming from the Caribbean, but they seem to be far more interested in playing franchise cricket, and to be honest, who can blame them? There's been gross mismanagement of players, to the extent that many players don't seem to be motivated by representing West Indies any more. Other than their ability to raise their game whenever England play them in the West Indies, their only other test series wins in the last 20 years have been against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and one win against New Zealand in 2012 at home. It's a similar story in bilateral ODI series - haven't beaten India, Australia, South Africa, England or Pakistan since 2007, and in that time one win against Sri Lanka and New Zealand - the rest of their series wins coming against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Afghanistan and associates. Really only T20 keeping them afloat at this point.

It's a pretty sorry record for a once great team.

[bigfluffylemon]

It remains bull *modded* that there will only be 10 teams in the world cup, but West Indies might not have made it in even if there were to be 4 qualifiers.