Sri Lanka's defeat gives West Indies glimmer of hope
Wed, Jul 12, '17
ZIMBABWE’S historic series win against Sri Lanka has given the West Indies a glimmer of hope of direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 with the gap between two-time former world champions West Indies and 1996 champions Sri Lanka narrowed to 10 points on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings.India defeated the West Indies by 3-1 and Zimbabwe overpowered Sri Lanka by 3-2, resulting in changes to the ODI team rankings, giving West Indies renewed hope in the race to the September 30, 2017 cut-off date for direct qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Sri Lanka had entered the series against Zimbabwe, needing to win by 4-1 or better to secure a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2017.However, the eventual result has brought the West Indies back in contention as Sri Lanka slipped from 93 points to 88 points, which, in turn, has meant the 16 points gap between the eighth and ninth ranked sides has been trimmed to 10 points.According to the current Future Tours Programme, Sri Lanka will now have a second chance to qualify directly for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 when they host India for a five-ODI series in August.
