Chris Gayle led the West Indies' celebrations after the two-time world champions qualified for next year's ICC Cricket World Cup, which will take place in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14. West Indies, the two time World Cup winners (1975 and 1979), defeated Scotland by five runs (DLS) in a Super Six fixture of the World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday.

Just after the win, 'universe boss' Gayle posted a special message for his fans.

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Chris Gayle has a special message for his amazing Windies fans after we qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup #OneLove," West Indies Cricket's Twitter post read.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!



Chris Gayle has a special message for his amazing Windies fans after we qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup #OneLove#CWCQ #RALLY O pic.twitter.com/J8RNMawqQc — CricketWestIndies (@westindies) March 21, 2018

"Mission accomplished, definitely. It has been a long journey and the process we have gone through to qualify, we still have to give thanks even though it was a rain interrupted game today, but a win is a win. I am so happy to have qualified for another World Cup., I just have to stay fit now and we have a young team, but it will be my last World Cup that is for sure, so I am looking forward to it," Gayle said.

The two-time World Cup winners were bowled out for just 198 batting first, but rain forced an early finish with the game in the balance and Scotland on 125 for 5 with 14.4 overs remaining.

Put into bat, West Indies lost their star batsman Gayle on the very first ball of the match. Just after Gayle's wicket, Shai Hope too returned without troubling the scorers.

Promoted

Evin Lewis (66) and Marlon Samuels (51) then revived their side's innings by stitching 121 runs for the third wicket.

While the result ended Scotland's hopes of featuring in their second successive World Cup and fourth overall since 1999, Afghanistan and Ireland are now back in contention if rain affects Thursday's match between the United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe. If there is no result, then net run-rate will determine the second qualifier behind the Windies.