West Indies suffered a new low as they were bowled out for just 83 to lose their T20 series with minnows Nepal in the United Arab Emirates.
Nepal, who are ranked 18th in the world, had never played a T20 series against a full member nation before this week but have won the three-match series with a game to spare.
Windies’ total of 83 is the lowest a full member nation has scored against an associate and the 90-run winning margin is also the biggest for an associate against a full member.
It comes after West Indies’ Test team suffered a crushing defeat by Australia in July, being bowled out for just 27 – the second-lowest score in Test history, and the worst since 1955.
After losing that series 3-0, Cricket West Indies president Dr Kishore Shallow called for an emergency meeting to review the series and enlisted the help of legendary former players Sir Viv Richards, Sir Clive Lloyd and Brian Lara.
They also failed to qualify for the 50-over World Cup in 2023 and they are currently outside the qualifying places for 2027 edition.
Nepal posted a decent score of 173-6 in their 20 overs thanks to a 100-run fourth-wicket partnership between Aasif Sheikh and Sundeep Jora, with Jora hitting five sixes in Sharjah.
West Indies, who are sixth in the T20 rankings, never got going in the chase, with only three batters reaching double figures.
They were 63-4 in the 12th over before collapsing to just 83 all out.
Nepal, who are coached by Australian Stuart Law, take part in qualifiers for the 2026 T20 World Cup next month – they played at the 2024 and 2014 tournaments.
The series concludes with the third T20 on Tuesday (15:30 BST).
West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, meanwhile, has been ruled out of next month’s two-Test series against India due to the recurrence of a back injury.
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