Sri Lanka World Cup bound after Nissanka's sublime ton

Sri Lanka have booked their place at this year's ODI World Cup by claiming one of the two spots available at the International Cricket Council qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe on Sunday.

Sri Lanka crushed Zimbabwe by nine wickets on the back of an unbeaten century from opener Pathum Nissanka to seal their ticket to cricket's showpiece tournament in India from October 5-November 19.

Zimbabwe must beat Scotland in their final game of the Super Six stage to take the last place at the 50-over World Cup.

Sri Lanka's crushing win over the qualifiers host at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo came after it bowled the Zimbabweans out for 165, with spinner Maheesh Theekshana taking 4-25 off 8.2 overs.

Sri Lanka then cruised to victory, finishing on 1-169.

"Coming into this tournament we had plans and we executed them," Theekshana said.

Sri Lanka, the 1996 World Cup winner, has won six from six so far at the qualifying tournament and kept their record of playing at every Cricket World Cup.

They have one more game to play in the Super Six stage before the tournament's final on July 9, against West Indies, who were eliminated on Saturday after a disastrous loss to Scotland.

It's the first time the West Indies – who won the first two 50-over World Cups in 1975 and 1979 – have failed to reach the tournament.

Previously unbeaten at the tournament, Zimbabwe needs to win against Scotland on Tuesday to also qualify for the World Cup. A win for Scotland would put the teams level on points, and Scotland will have one more Super Six game against Netherlands to try and secure their spot.

"If we play great cricket as we've been doing, come Tuesday we will be good," Zimbabwe coach Dave Houghton said.

Zimbabwe missed out on the last World Cup in 2019 for the first time since it started playing at the tournament in 1983. Scotland also failed to reach the main draw in 2019 and last played at the World Cup in 2015.