ICC commits a blooper on Sri Lanka World Cup qualification

Soon after India thumped Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI played at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the ICC released a press release on the home side’s qualification chances for the 2019 World Cup. According to the press release, Sri Lanka was out of the reckoning for a direct qualification and will now have to take part in the qualifying tournament scheduled to kick off early next year.

The statement released by the ICC is questionable. While it is true that Sri Lanka are struggling to make it to the mega event directly but they still have an outside chance. The Island nation rely on West Indies for a berth in the top 7 teams. With one game still left to play in the 5-match series against India, Sri Lanka would want to finish the series on a high and stand a chance to go through to the World Cup.

Here are the scenarios for Sri Lanka and West Indies:

• If Sri Lanka manages to clinch the final ODI on Sunday and West Indies loses a single game against England in their forthcoming 5-match ODI series or against Ireland, who the Caribbean Nation will play in a lone ODI, Sri Lanka will go through by direct qualification.
• India look favorites to make it 5-0 on Sunday and if that happens, the West Indies will have to win the England series 4-1 apart from winning the ODI against Ireland to go through.
• Irrespective of the result of the 5th game between India and Sri Lanka, the West Indies can’t afford to lose more than one game out of their next 6 ODIs – 5 against England and 1 against Ireland.

Going by how things stand at the moment, Sri Lanka has a better chance of earning a direct qualification rather than the West Indies. The ICC must not release such news before thorough calculations.