PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Caribbean cricket fans have been urged to “rally around the West Indies” despite the Caribbean side being dumped out of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in India later this year.

The two-time world champions failed to qualify for the event after missing out on one of the two spots available in the qualifying tournament now taking place in Zimbabwe.

West Indies lost to the host nation and Netherlands in the group stage, before going down to Scotland in their opening game of the Super Six stage, to suffer elimination.

They play Sri Lanka in a game of academic interest on Friday.

Speaking at the end of the annual Caribbean Community (Caricom) summit here on Wednesday night, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit noted the Facebook page of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley after the West Indies lost to Netherlands, despite scoring 374 runs.

Rowley described the game as the “worst cricket match ever played by a West Indies team,” adding “this amateurish demoralising embarrassment has to stop.

“Playing for West Indies requires a desire to fight, to believe, to win. To saunter through to defeat is unacceptable. Playing for West Indies must be a treasured privilege available only to the best that are prepared to show character in defence of our legacy and our pride.”

Skerrit told reporters that the regional leaders met with the Cricket West Indies President Kishore Shallow.

“We have agreed with the president of the West Indies Cricket to meet sometime next week, where we shall need to discuss how we can work together,” he said.

Skerrit also announced that the leaders had taken a decision to name Prime Minister Rowley as the new chairman of the prime ministerial subcommittee and the discussions with West Indies Cricket were to determine “how we can work together to better position our cricket in the Caribbean, in the West Indies so that we can come back to the to the glorious days…”

“I still believe that we have to rally around the West Indies,” Skerrit said, adding “the reality is we do not want to lose and we do not like to lose and when we lose we get vex…”

Dominica will host the first Test of the Indian tour of the Caribbean later this month and Skerrit urged everyone to back the regional team.