West Indies assistant coach, Carl Hooper, has expressed concern about their team’s ranking and hopes to avoid a new low by qualifying for the upcoming Cricket World Cup 2023. The team is ranked tenth in ODI cricket, and with a new format in place, they will have to beat nine other teams to enter the World Cup. Hooper called their situation ‘distressing’ and said, The position hasn’t changed. The point is can we go lower than this? Yes, we can go lower than this and if we don’t qualify, we go a step lower.
West Indies will begin their qualifying campaign against the United States of America (USA) on Sunday. Hooper acknowledged that USA, Nepal and Scotland are not significant threats, but noted that Bangladesh and Afghanistan are ahead of them. West Indies recently lost head coach Phil Simmons and wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran also gave up the white-ball captaincy. Despite the setback, they have some of their IPL stars returning for this encounter.
Before this game, West Indies had a 3-0 sweep of the UAE earlier this month, thanks to their performance by Daren Sammy, Shai Hope, Hooper and company. Hooper believes that until the team starts doing the right things, they can continue to slide down the rankings. Nonetheless, he has faith in the team and hopes that they will make it to the World Cup after fighting through the qualifiers.
