Cameron sees bleak times for West Indies

Former Cricket West Indies (CWI) president, Dave Cameron, in the aftermath of the shocking defeat to the Netherlands in their ICC Men's World Cup Qualifiers yesterday, is not seeing a pathway to avoid the reality of West Indies missing the 50 over World Cup for the first time in their history.

West Indies, despite posting 374, failed to defend the total and lost in the super over by 22 runs, leaving their World Cup chances hanging by a thread.

Cameron called the results one of the darkest days in the history of West Indies cricket.

"I don't know if it can get any darker than this, but it is certainly a very dark day. I supposed the darkest day is when it is realised that we have not made it, if that is possible, but it is a very difficult day. It is unfortunate," Cameron told STAR Sports.

Cameron warned of the possible consequences of not qualifying for the tournament, which could result in a major loss in revenue and playing status, which could see West Indies not getting tours against top nations such as India, England and Australia. India are slated to tour the West Indies next month and England later this year.

"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if India decided they are not coming to play us again, or England for that matter, because what is the reason? You are not competitive, so it is as bad as that in my view.

"I surely hope that doesn't happen, but that is what I was guarding against each time. We can't keep doing things the way we used to do it. We have to select teams competitively, and we have to do first-world things to make sure that we can compete because once you start compromising the business, we could really be in a very difficult situation," Cameron.

West Indies face an uphill ask in the Super Six round to qualify for the World Cup, as they need to win all three matches and hope for favourable results from others, a predicament that Cameron does not foresee happening.

"There is no way. There are three games left to play in a week. How do you solve that? No, you write that off. Even if you win your three matches, you are depending on the four other teams ahead of you to mess up.

"I don't know how you can get back from this," Cameron said.

The West Indies have played in every World Cup since the inception in 1975, winning it twice.