The West Indies team has automatically qualified for the 2020 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in Australia by virtue of their seventh ranked in the latest ICC Twenty20 rankings.
Top-ranked Pakistan, India, England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are the other qualifiers for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup from Oct. 18 to Nov. 15.
At the end of the cutoff period which was Dec. 31, 2018, the West Indies team held on to the seventh spot and with the first eight teams going straight to the World Cup, they avoided a playoff situation.
Earlier in 2018 West Indies had to face a qualification tournament in order to get into the ICC 2019 50 Overs World Cup in England.
Now the two major cricketing nations facing that situation are Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Sri Lankans are in ninth, while Bangladesh which recently lost its three-match series 1-2 to West Indies, is 10th on the ranking table.
Minnows Afghanistan, coached by Trinidad and Tobago’s Phil Simmons, a former West Indies coach also qualified directly of its eight-place rating.
Six teams from the ICC Twenty20 World Cup Qualifier this year will join Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stage, with four qualifying to the Super 12 stage.
West Indies won the Twenty20 World Cup for the second time back in 2016 when they beat England in a dramatic final in Kolkata, India.
