Belfast [Ireland], August 11 (ANI): With Afghanistan sealing their direct spot in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, two-time champions West Indies will have to go through qualifiers for the third successive time to make it to the tournament, reported Cricinfo.

The top eight teams in the ODI Rankings on September 30 this year, excluding two of the three WC co-hosts, South Africa and Zimbabwe, are going to get an automatic spot in the 2027 showpiece event. Afghanistan will join defending champions Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh, South Africa and Zimbabwe after a win in the third ODI at Belfast.

West Indies, ranked 10th in the ODI rankings, do have two ODIs against India in the cut-off date, but even winning these two ODIs would not be enough for them, and the grind for them will continue with the qualifiers starting in February next year, as per Cricinfo.

West Indies were knocked out of the 2023 WC contention and failed to make it to the tournament as they finished fifth in the Super Six stage and lost to the Netherlands in a shocker. It was the first-ever 50-over World Cup they missed, which also cost them a spot in the ICC Champions Trophy, a competition which they have not featured in since 2013.

The winner of the World Cup qualifier will be getting a direct entry into the group stage phase of the tournament, while the teams finishing second, third and fourth will battle in the 'Super Series' round of the World Cup for a spot in the group stage.

This change has not been received well by associate members, particularly Scotland and the Netherlands, who issued a joint statement on Monday to call it out as a 'setback to associate member cricket'.

The qualifier includes two bottom-ranked, non-host, Test-playing nations in the ODI Rankings as of September 30, 2026 (Ireland and West Indies), the top four teams from the Cricket World Cup League two and the top four teams from the World Cup Qualifier Playoff. The World Cup Qualifier Playoff will feature the last four teams of CWC League Two and four teams from the Challenge League (the third-division of cricket). The format is yet to be decided, but the top four teams from this eight-team WC Qualifier playoffs will progress to the WC qualifier.

The Challenge League, the third-division of cricket, will have 12 teams divided into two pools of six, each playing three round-robin tournaments during a cycle, and the top two teams from each group will move to the WC Qualifier Playoff. (ANI)