West Indies heading back to Qualifier for 2027 ODI World Cup

Dehring believes Windies ‘deserve’ to be at next year's showpiece 

For the third consecutive cycle, the West Indies will compete in the qualifying tournament for a chance to participate in the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup after failing to secure an automatic spot in the 2027 event. 

The top eight teams, along with hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, qualify directly for the competition as of the September 30th cut-off date. 

Afghanistan’s winning lead in their ongoing series against Ireland has permanently pushed the Caribbean side out of that bracket, rendering potential points from their upcoming three-match series against India, of which two will be contested before the qualification deadline, irrelevant.

The West Indies, who won the first two editions of the World Cup, had participated in every edition of the tournament before 2023, the first of two consecutive qualifiers they failed to advance from.

Their next shot at advancing directly is now to win February’s qualifier, with teams finishing second, third, and fourth set to contest the ICC’s new Super Series round ahead of the World Cup. The winner of that tri-series will earn the 12th and final World Cup spot. 

Meanwhile, Cricket West Indies CEO Chris Dehring is confident the Caribbean team will be competing in Africa next autumn.

“The changes that have been made, yes, of course, [are going] to make it a little bit more challenging to reach the final stages of the World Cup—that is the final 12—but at the end of the day the West Indies deserve to be there; we will be there, and we will be competing to win the World Cup,” Dehring said.