West Indies will not play in the men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time after a comprehensive seven-wicket loss to Scotland in their Super Six clash at the qualification tournament in Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Scotland won the toss and elected to bowl, restricting the two-times former champions to 181 all out in 43.5 overs. Brandon McMullen was the pick of the bowlers with three for 32 in nine overs. Scotland chased down their target with ease, reaching 185 for three in 43.3 overs as McMullen struck 69 and the opener, Matthew Cross, was unbeaten on 74.

West Indies have no points from their three games in the Super Six stage and cannot overhaul Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, who have six points each from their first three fixtures. Scotland’s win moves them to four points and they remain in contention with fixtures against Zimbabwe and Netherlands to come.

A first-ever defeat to Scotland in 50-over cricket capped a dismal campaign, with the Windies described by their own coach, Daren Sammy, as the worst fielding team in the qualifying tournament.

“We need to look at all areas. We have let ourselves down at this tournament. We have to go one way from here and that is up,” the captain, Shai Hope, said at the post-match presentation. “I don’t think we gave that 100% effort every single time. We only did it in patches.”

Hope suggested the team’s buildup to the tournament was not ideal either, as they sent a second-string side to the United Arab Emirates. They played day-night internationals on tour, while Zimbabwe got used to starting at 9am on fresh African winter mornings, where the ball has moved around.

“The preparation needs to be better. We can’t expect to be an elite team without that backing from [the cricket board] at home,” Hope said. Injuries and illness have also played a part, but the team’s only wins in five matches came against Nepal and the United States, a desperate return for a team who won the World Cup in 1975 and 1979.

The top two teams in the Super Six table will qualify for the 50-over World Cup, which will be staged in India from 5 October to 19 November.

skip past newsletter promotionSign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion This article was amended on 3 July 2023. Scotland elected to bowl first, not bat as an earlier version said.