Assistant coach Carl Hooper on Saturday warned that the West Indies can sink ‘even lower’ than where they are currently if they fail to qualify for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
The former West Indies captain expressed disappointment at the current situation, and said that he never thought that the two-time champions would be playing qualification tournaments to reach the World Cup.
The once mighty Caribbean side, who captured the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979, are having to negotiate qualifying for a second successive tournament and will be amongst the favourites to reach the global showpiece in India later this year.
“Can we go lower than this? Yes, we can go lower than this and if we don’t qualify, we go a step lower,” West Indies assistant coach Hooper told cricinfo.
“I never thought that I’d live to see the day where the West Indies are trying to qualify for major tournaments.”
West Indies go into the 10-team qualifying event, which gets underway in Zimbabwe on Sunday, with little margin for error.
Only two teams will make it through and the field is stacked with countries just as strong in crucial areas as the West Indies.
Fellow former champions Sri Lanka are also having to qualify while the likes of hosts Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland and Nepal all possess potent match-winners.
