West Indies prepares for World Cup qualifiers

West Indies has started planning for the ICC World Cup qualifiers to book their place in the 2019 One-Day International (ODI) showpiece in England.

The schedule for the much-anticipated qualifiers was recently released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with West Indies installed in Group A along Ireland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and the winners of the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 tournament from Feb. 18-25 in Namibia.

West Indies will open its bid on March 6 against the yet-to-be determined WCL Division 2 winners before taking on Papua New Guinea two days later.

On March 10, they face their sternest test of the competition against Ireland before wrapping up against the Netherlands.

Group play will be on a round-robin basis, with the top three advancing to the Super Six stage, where each side will then play three matches against the sides they did not meet in the group stage.

The top two teams will qualify for the final and also book their place in the World Cup.

The two-time World Cup champions, West Indies were forced into the qualifiers after missing out on direct qualification because of their ninth place ranking in the ICC charts. England are hosts, and the remaining top seven in the rankings, qualified automatically to the prestigious event to run from May 30 to July 15.

West Indies had entered 2017 battling to achieve the number eight spot but lost 16 of 22 One-Day Internationals in the calendar year while winning just three matches, to remain rooted at eighth.