HARARE: The tri-nation series, involving hosts Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and the West Indies, commences on Monday (today) in Harare, in which the West Indies will be eyeing the opportunity to wrest back the lead against Pakistan in the ICC ODI team rankings table.
The first match of the series will be played between Sri Lanka and hosts Zimbabwe. The series will conclude on November 27.
Pakistan had overtaken the West Indies to eighth position after a 3-0 win in the series in the United Arab Emirates but four league matches in the upcoming tri-series as well as a potential final could help the West Indies surge ahead as the two former world champions vie for automatic places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Hosts England and the seven highest-ranked sides on the ICC ODI team rankings as on September 30, 2017 will qualify directly for the World Cup while the bottom four sides will compete with six other sides from the ICC World Cricket League in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018.
The top two sides from the Qualifier will compete against the 10-team line-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
The West Indies, which are just one point behind Pakistan with 88 points, could go up to 92 points if they win all four league matches. A win in the final against higher-ranked Sri Lanka after winning all their league matches will lift them to 94 points, within one point of seventh-ranked Bangladesh.
Wins against Sri Lanka will earn more points for the West Indies as they are 13 points behind them.
If the West Indies lose a match each to both teams, they will slip to 87 points unless they go on to win the final against Sri Lanka, in which case they will move up to 89 points but still remain behind Pakistan on decimal points. If they qualify for the final in such a scenario but beat Zimbabwe in the final, they will find themselves on 87 points.