Afghanistan seal 2027 ODI WC berth, West Indies to play in qualifiers

Afghanistan secured automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup with a win over Ireland on Monday, leaving twice champions West Indies to go through qualifiers for the third successive edition of the 50-overs tournament. The top eight teams in the one-day rankings on September 30, excluding co-hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, qualify directly for the event. Afghanistan’s win in Belfast ensured they will finish among those teams, joining Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and Bangladesh.
This has been an eventful decade for Afghanistan, which is a team that is no longer an associate of the world's largest cricket nations and has a history of becoming a full member of an international cricket team and an experienced team that can challenge the world's most powerful teams in the top world competitions. Afghanistan has consistently proven to be able to compete against higher-ranked nations, winning matches and putting up some great performances on the global stage,
The West Indies are ranked 10th and cannot make up enough ground to qualify directly despite having two ODIs against India left to play before the cut-off date. The Caribbean side failed to seal an automatic spot at the 2023 edition and lost in the qualifiers, resulting in their absence from a men’s 50-overs World Cup for the first time.  They successfully negotiated the qualifiers to play at the 2019 edition. The Caribbean team won the ODI World Cup twice, in 1975 and 1979, and produced some of the most influential players in international cricket.
Under the new format for 2027, the winner of the qualifier will advance directly to the second stage of the World Cup, while the teams placing second, third and fourth will play in the first round known as the Super Series. The 2027 event will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The full tournament schedule has yet to be released.