West Indies captain Shai Hope on Saturday questioned the attitude and preparedness of his players after their shocking exit from the race to qualify for the World Cup in India. The two-time former title winners will not feature in the 50-over World Cup for the first time in 48 years, since the competition’s inception back in 1975.

“To be honest, it’s not one thing I can put my finger on. We certainly let ourselves down in the tournament,” Hope told the broadcaster after West Indies’ shocking exit.

“It really has to do with the attitude. The fielding is an attitude according to me, catches will be dropped and misfields will happen, that’s a part of the game and I feel that we did not give 100 per cent effort every time, we did it in patches.

“It starts with the foundation — from back home, the preparation needs to be better. We cannot come here and expect to be an elite team without preparation. You can’t expect to wake up one morning and be a great team,” he added.

The West Indies team will not travel to India for the tournament which begins on October 5 after Scotland beat them by seven wickets in Harare in a Super Six World Cup Qualifier.

This game was a must-win for the West Indies but after being put into bat, they could manage just 181 in 43.5 overs. Their top scorer was Jason Holder who made 45 off 79 balls at No.7. Scotland’s star of the day was medium pacer Brandon McMullen. With three wickets and 69 off 106 when batting at No.3, McMullen provided the all-round quality Scotland needed. 

Though the West Indies have two more games in the Super Six, they can only reach a maximum of four points if they win both. However, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe already have six points each. Scotland, after their famous win, have four points and will now fancy their chances of making the final to be played on July 9. The top two teams advance to the World Cup as Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2.