The World Cup Qualifiers produced another thriller when the West Indies defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets at the Harare Sports Club to move back to the top of the Super Sixes on Monday.

Brendan Taylor scored a magnificent century as Zimbabwe set the West Indies a commanding target of 290, and they would have felt confident of securing their place in the next World Cup, but the men from the Caribbean were just too strong.

The result means that the winner of the game between the West Indies and Scotland on Wednesday will qualify for the World Cup, while Zimbabwe can qualify with a victory over the United Arab Emirates the following day. The top two teams on the Super Sixes table will qualify for the global showpiece in England next year.

After losing Chris Gayle early on in their innings, Evin Lewis (64), Shai Hope (76) and Marlon Samuels (86) steadied the ship for the West Indies, and they laid the foundation for the excellent victory. Hope and Samuels put on 135 runs for the third wicket as they took the game completely away from Zimbabwe.

The West Indies were given a brief scare when they lost a number of wickets towards the end of their innings, but they had enough in the tank to get over the line against a determined Zimbabwe side.

Earlier, Taylor scored a fantastic 138 off 124 balls, which featured 20 fours and two sixes, as host nation Zimbabwe looked to seal their place in the World Cup.

But, while Taylor was scoring freely for Zimbabwe, West Indies captain Jason Holder put in an impressive performance with the ball and finished with figures of 4-35. Kemar Roach, who eventually claimed the wicket of Taylor, ended on 3-55.

Blessing Muzarabani, who finished with figures of 2-36 and went at just four runs an over, was the pick of the Zimbabwean bowlers.

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