West Indies face Scotland today in the first game of the Super Six phase of the ICC World Cup (50-over) cricket qualifiers in Zimbabwe knowing only a miracle — triggered by results outside of their control — will allow them a place at the ‘big dance’ in India later this year.

The Caribbean cricket fraternity remains in shock following the horrific meltdown which allowed associate nation the Netherlands to chase down 374 runs set by West Indies in their final preliminary round game on Monday.

The tied scores necessitated a super over to determine a winner. Dutch talisman Mr Logan van Beek – grandson of Trinidadian Mr Sammy Guillen who played Test cricket for both West Indies and New Zealand in the 1950s — then battered the medium pace of Mr Jason Holder for 30 runs to leave West Indies in a daze.

Mr van Beek completed victory, taking two West Indian wickets with his medium pace.

Such was the shock, we wonder about the mental and psychological readiness of the Caribbean men as they face the Scots today.

Yet, Captain Mr Shai Hope and his men must pull themselves together and seek to overcome not just Scotland today, but powerful Sri Lanka and Oman over the next few days, in order to leave Zimbabwe with a degree of pride.

The harsh truth, as voiced by West Indies head coach and former Captain Mr Daren Sammy, is that the loss to the Netherlands reflected the state of West Indies cricket.

All agree that it was woeful fielding which caused the Caribbean team to lose to Zimbabwe and then the Netherlands. As Mr Sammy correctly said, his charges were the “worst fielding team” on show.

Why was that? That’s something to be explored at length by Cricket West Indies (CWI) in the immediate future.

Crucially, the failures in Zimbabwe are in sync with the disastrous preliminary round elimination at the Twenty20 World Cup in Tasmania, Australia late last year.

Mere days after the current qualifying tournament ends, West Indies will switch to red-ball cricket, facing formidable India in a two-Test series in the Caribbean starting July 12.

CWI has named an 18-man training squad, led by red-ball Captain Mr Kraigg Brathwaite, for the upcoming series. That squad, including a few promising young players, not least exciting 22-year-old Jamaican batter Mr Kirk McKenzie — fresh from the WI High Performance Programme — gathered in Antigua on Thursday.

A few players currently in Zimbabwe, including Mr Holder, would normally be considered for the Test series. It seems to us that, given the tight timelines, they may well be excluded for the first Test, at least.

It’s been 21 years since West Indies last beat India in a Test match. Back then West Indies took the series 2-1 at home.

Though they performed creditably in Test cricket last year at home, including a 1-0 series victory over England, Mr Brathwaite and his men subsequently fell away badly away, losing to Australia and South Africa.

Given all the circumstances, it’s probably a bridge too far to expect West Indies to win either of the upcoming Tests against India.

Much will depend on whether they can reproduce the fight they showed against England last year. Dare we hope?