Harare, Zimbabwe

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West Indies failed to qualify for the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India after losing to Scotland by seven wickets in their latest qualifier clash in Harare on Saturday. With this loss and omission from the ten-team marquee event later this year, former two-time winners will miss the 50-over World Cup for the first time ever, much to their disappointment. Jason Holder, an experienced campaigner, has urged his teammates not to let their shoulders down and work harder towards attaining heights.

Speaking to the media after the match, Holder said this outfit includes a lot of promising youngsters who would take their time to nurture into future superstars, and the fans must remain patient with the progress. 

He said for West Indies to get back to where they belong – which is at the top of the cricketing charts, backing the youngsters is a must and that the board must look into improving their domestic structure for better results.

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"I don't think all is lost. There's a lot of young guys in the group who definitely develop and turn things around for West Indies cricket," Holder said at the post-match press conference. "We've got a young crop of players and we've got to put some support around them. It's really important that we try to utilise time outside of competition and put things in place where we can develop our talent."

"We have to look at the levels below and improve them so that when guys get here, they have a good foundation. It's an area we need to pay some special attention to. It's not a quick fix. It's something we need to spend time on. Development is the most important thing. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, we can see the fruits of that crop,” the bowling all-rounder added.

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Disappointing for West Indies cricket

Having once ruled the cricketing world back in the 70s and 80s, West Indies, in the past two years, failed to qualify for the group stages of the T20 World Cup in Australia and the ODI World Cup in India, scheduled for the October-November window.

Holder, who was part of two 50-over World Cup campaigns in 2015 and 2019, expressed his disappointment over his team missing out this time.

"It's disappointing, especially after last year's effort in the T20 (World Cup - where West Indies did not make the Super 12s). I've had the luxury of playing in two fifty-over World Cups before and some T20 World Cups. There are special occasions so this one will hurt as the one last year did," Holder added.

Against Scotland, West Indies batted first and scored 181 in the first innings, with Holder being the top scorer at 45, while Scotland chased down a moderate total inside 44 overs. Keeper-batter Matthew Cross top-scored for them, hitting 74 off 107 balls.

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