The ICC World Cup Qualifiers haven’t started but the West Indies’ woes certainly have after they were trounced by Afghanistan in a warm-up One-Day cricket match at the Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe, yesterday.
Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran took a hat-trick as Afghanistan came from behind to beat the out-of-sorts two-time former world champions Windies by 29 runs in a pre-qualifying tune-up game.
Chasing a modest revised target of 140 in 35 overs by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method, the Windies dramatically slumped from 99 for five in the 20th over to 99 for eight before being dismissed for 110 in 26.4 overs.
Zadran claimed the wickets of Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell and Carlos Brathwaite with successive deliveries in his fifth over.
Hetmyer was caught in the gully by Najibullah Zadran for one while Powell was snapped up by wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad for nine before Brathwaite was trapped leg before wicket without scoring.
Zadran, who had earlier accounted for Shai Hope for one, finished with outstanding figures of four for 26 in seven overs.
Left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf and wrist-spinner Rashid Khan captured two wickets each.
For the Windies, opener Evin Lewis hit two sixes and two fours as he top-scored with 36 off 40 balls, while Marlon Samuels contributed 34 off 36 balls with four boundaries.
The experineced former captain Chris Gayle made just nine while Jason Mohammed fell for a duck as the Windies’ batsmen missed out on useful batting practice on a good surface.
Earlier, a rain-break helped Afghanistan to recover from a precarious 82 for eight in 25.4 overs to a competitive 163 for nine in 35 overs. When play resumed, Gulbadin Naib and Samiullah Shenwari came out with all guns blazing and added 81 runs in the remaining 9.2 overs to give their bowlers with something to bowl at.
Naib hit a 38-ball 48 with three fours and two sixes while Shenwari remained not out on 42 from 55 balls. For the Windies, fast bowlers Sheldon Cottrell captured three for 43 in seven overs while captain Jason Holder and Kesrick Williams took two wickets each for 27 and 34 runs respectively.
Meanwhile, former captain and batting legend Brian Lara believes the West Indies have “no choice” but to qualify for the showpiece in England next year.
The Caribbean side won the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 under iconic captain Clive Lloyd, and also reached the final of the 1983 edition before losing to India.
Lara, who led the Windies at the 1999 and 2007 editions, said their prestigious history in the competition underlined the urgency of the need to qualify.
“We have a very good record in the Champions Trophy and we didn’t have the opportunity to play (last year). The World Cup is a different story, obviously,” Lara told the Melbourne Age newspaper in Australia on Monday.
“It is something much more important. History in that particular tournament is very strong, especially in the early part of it, the first three or four World Cups. It’s a situation where I think the boys have no choice, we have to pull it through.
“It [ICC rankings] is set up in such a way that we were out of that place [automatic qualification] so we have to qualify. But it doesn’t mean we can’t get there – we have to get there.”
West Indies will now face a plethora of lower-ranked sides in the 10-team qualification tournament from March 4-25, in order to secure one of two remaining spots for the World Cup.
Lara, who retired from international cricket following the historic 2007 World Cup staged in the Caribbean, said the Windies failure to qualify was unthinkable.
“It would be a huge disappointment . . . I don’t want to think beyond that,” said the 48-year-old. “The tournament is in front of the boys in Zimbabwe at present and they have got to pull it through.”
The Windies officially open their qualification campaign on March 6 when they face ICC World Cricket League Division 2 winners, United Arab Emirates in Group A.
The top three from each group will advance to the Super Sixes, where each team will play three matches against sides they did not meet in the preliminaries.
The top two sides will qualify for the final and secure berths at the World Cup from May 30 to July 15 next year. (EZS/PR/CMC)