Minimal fallout for West Indies
WEST INDIES have suffered minimal fallout from their one-day series whitewash at the hands of New Zealand. In the latest rankings released yesterday, the Caribbean side were still ninth in the ICC rankings and had lost only one point to slip to 76 ratings points. They are now eight points behind the eighthranked Sri Lanka and still some 16 points adrift of Bangladesh in seventh spot. The recent series represented an opportunity for West Indies to close the gap on Sri Lanka but instead, they failed to win a single match. They lost the opener in Whangarei by five wickets before suffering heavy defeats in the doubleheader in Christchurch, going down by margins of 204 runs and 66 runs under Duckworth/Lewis.
WRETCHED RUN
The series topped off a wretched run in ODIs this year for the two-time former World champions. They started the year bidding for direct qualification to the 2019 World Cup but lost 16 of their 23 outings while winning just three, to miss out on automatic place at the showpiece in England. The Windies will now enter the 10team ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 in Zimbabwe next March, in another bid to secure one of the two remaining places at the World Cup. Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland and hosts Zimbabwe will join West Indies in the tournament, with the finalists from the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in February expected to complete the line-up. There has been no change in the ODI positions, however, with the Black Caps remaining fifth despite their dominance, and South Africa still top.