The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier (WCQ) is just 20 days away. It will decide the two remaining spots for the main event in India. A lot of stake is involved for the four full members and the six associate members participating in the tournament. It is expected to be throat-cut. The pre-tournament favourites aren't clear this time.

This article will focus on Windies. Once a cricketing powerhouse across formats, they dominated the game like no other. The winners of the first two editions of the World Cup haven't been able to replicate the dominance since then. The decline in the past few years has reached another level.

Playing the WCQ for the second consecutive time, Windies aren't the favourites to qualify (for the World Cup) anymore. Them playing the qualifier was seen as absolutely shocking back in 2018. (They had to, as they weren't ranked in top 8 before the cutoff date). However, they started the WCQ as favourites along with Afghanistan.

They finished second and qualified eventually. But it wasn't as easy as it seems. It took an umpiring blunder for the Windies to snatch a 5-run victory against Scotland in a rain affected encounter. The DLS target was calculated to be 131 in 32.5 overs for Scotland after play was not possible. They were 105/4 in the 32nd over when Berrington was given out lbw to a delivery that looked to be sliding down leg. With no DRS, Berrington could not review. It needed an UAE-upset-win over the hosts Zimbabwe for the Windies to qualify.

The scenario has worsened for the Windies this time around. Currently ranked 10th in ICC ODI rankings, they are just below Sri Lanka among WCQ participants. But it doesn't tell you the whole story. Windies have flopped in their last three ICC tournaments. It hit rock bottom when they couldn't qualify for the second round of the WT20 2022, after losing against Scotland and Ireland in the first round. The ODI performances have been extremely poor as well.

They didn't qualify for the Champions Trophy 2017 and are very unlikely to qualify for the 2025 edition as well. With just 17 wins in 47 ODIs since the last World Cup in England, things aren't looking good for the Windies. Instability in the team selection and the unavailability of star players in the ODI set-up haven't helped them either.

The Windies squad is not young but is not massively experienced either. A lot will be there in the shoulders of Shai Hope, Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph. The likes of Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Kemar Roach and Sheldon Cotrell are not in the squad.

With the appointment of Darren Sammy as head coach and Shai Hope as captain in ODIs, Windies fans would expect their team to step up in the throat-cut competition this June-July in Zimbabwe. Before the WCQ, they will be playing against UAE in Sharjah starting from 4th June. The are grouped together with hosts Zimbabwe, Netherlands, Nepal and USA. If qualified for Super six, they might have to face the likes of Sri Lanka and Ireland there.

The group stage game vs Zimbabwe will be crucial as well as the points will be carried in the Super six stage. Hosts Zimbabwe have been in brilliant form in the last one year. Their recent 4-2 series win vs Pakistan 'A' team (in List A format) is a testament to their form. Netherlands would be hoping to learn and rectify the errors from their 24-match experience in the ODI Super League. Nepal have been in scintillating form with 13 wins in their last 14 ODIs.

USA looked promising in the WCQ playoff and would be hoping to replicate what they did in Namibia two months ago. If WI can't make it to the main event this year, they might have to wait till 2027 to play another ODI ICC tournament with their poor ODI performance in recent times not helping them to qualify for the Champions Trophy 2025.