3 Reasons why West Indies not qualifying for the 2023 World Cup is not an upset

The 2023 World Cup, to be held in India later this year, will be without West Indies, who failed to make it through the Qualifiers that are currently being held in Zimbabwe.

Hosts Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka are the favorites to make it through to the marquee quadrennial event, while Scotland are in with a shout as well. West Indies, after losing their last three games on the trot at the hands of Zimbabwe, Scotland and the Netherlands respectively, crashed out.

While it may seem like a shock that the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winners will not take part in the latest edition of cricket's biggest international tournament, it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility when the Qualifiers commenced.

Here are three reasons why West Indies not qualifying for the 2023 World Cup is not an upset.

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#3 West Indies barely qualified for the previous edition of the Cricket World Cup

Windies v New Zealand - ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

West Indies not qualifying for the 2023 World Cup is a massive black mark on their history, but it's one that could have come five years earlier. While attempting to make it to England for the 2019 edition of the tournament, the Men in Maroon nearly fell at the final hurdle.

Needing a win against Scotland to qualify, West Indies were bowled out for just 198 as Safyaan Sharif picked up three wickets. Chasing a sub-200 total, Scotland were always going to be in the hunt, and cameos from Richie Berrington and George Munsey weathered a top-order collapse to put the Windies in serious trouble.

With Scotland on 125/5, with almost 15 overs to get the remaining 74 runs, rain intervened. No further play was possible, and they were adjudged the winners since their opponents were five runs short of the DLS par score.

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#2 There are question marks over player availability

South Africa v Windies - ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021.

This is an issue that has plagued West Indies cricket for quite a while now. There appear to be constant disagreements between the parties concerned, with the players and the board appearing to be on different pages altogether.

Shimron Hetmyer is one such recent example. The southpaw was left out of the Qualifiers after ODI skipper Shai Hope opined that the selectors should stick with the same unit that featured in their series against South Africa in March. That was after a series of fitness issues and disciplinary lapses put Hetmyer out of contention for several assignments.

There are serious question marks over the players' desire and commitment towards the team, and Hope's appointment as captain hasn't appeared to have made things much better. When putting out the best side is itself a problem, results cannot be expected.

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#1 West Indies weren't in great form heading into the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers, while the other nations were

South Africa v Windies - 3rd One Day International.

Before taking part in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers, West Indies weren't in great form. At the same time, the other nations, including the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Scotland, continued their rise.

The Windies did whitewash the United Arab Emirates in a three-game assignment while managing to draw a two-match ODI series against South Africa.

But before that, since the start of 2021, they lost to New Zealand (2-1), India (3-0), Bangladesh (3-0), Pakistan (3-0), India (3-0), Ireland (2-1), Australia (2-1) and Bangladesh (3-0). In that period, the Windies won only two series out of a possible 10, which were against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.

It was therefore not a surprise when Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and Scotland came up with telling performances in the World Cup Qualifiers, while the men from the Caribbean didn't. Even Oman, UAE and Nepal punched above their weight in the competition.