Zimbabwe gave South Africa, one of the favourites to lift the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 title, a right old scare in their first match, and even if they fell just short, the African side will look to take the confidence from that performance and turn it into victory when they take on the UAE in their Pool B match in Nelson on Thursday.
South Africa were under some real pressure in their first match on Sunday, with the Proteas losing four early wickets, before a record partnership from David Miller and JP Duminy jolted Zimbabwe.
Chasing well in excess of 300, the Zimbabwe batsmen put up a real fight, and the feeling coming out of the match was that the Elton Chigumbura-led side will cause a few problems to the big boys in this World Cup.
"It was a confidence boost the way we played, and obviously it's always disappointing to play the way we did for 90 overs but we didn't manage to finish off the last ten overs," said Chigumbura. "We took a lot out of the game we played and hopefully we can carry on with that form."
The match on Thursday will be completely different though for Zimbabwe, as they will head into the contest against the UAE as the favourites.
"Every team we're going to play we have to respect them and play the hard cricket we are capable of playing," added the skipper. "The thing about cricket is a good ball is a good ball.
"You just have to try and do the basics right. There's one or two guys we know, but we have to go back to basics because the majority of the players we don't know.
"Every team is capable of winning games, so at the end of the day we have to take every game seriously and do the basics right, and make sure that when you get into a good winning position you are ruthless and win the game."
For the UAE, they will go into their first World Cup game in a long time with that nothing-to-lose feeling, while also knowing that if they play to their full potential, and if Zimbabwe just trip up, they might be able to come away with a victory.
The UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir said his team are looking at the manner in which Ireland, playing fearless and confident cricket, rolled over the West Indies as inspiration going into, not just this match against Zimbabwe, but the entire World Cup.
"I think it's a great win for Ireland. I think most of the Associate nations are doing well and we would like to prove a point also," said Tauqir. "Every individual in the team is on target for goals.
"Collectively we are looking forward to at least having a couple of wins against Test nations, that's what we are targeting."
Where to Watch Live
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The World Cup match is scheduled for a 11 am local time (3.30 am IST, 10 pm GMT, 5 pm ET) start with live coverage in India on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD3. Viewers in India can also catch the match via free live streaming online on Starsports.com.
Audience in the Middle East and North Africa can watch the World Cup match live on OSN with the option to live stream on OSN Play. SuperSport will show the match live in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, while viewers can also catch the game live on SuperSport Live.
Watch the game live in Australia on Channel 9 and Fox Sports, while the option to live stream the game is on Cricket Australia Live, Cricket Australia Live App or Foxtel. Viewers in the UK can watch the action live on Sky Sports 2 or via live streaming on Sky Go or Watch Sky Sports.
Audience in the USA can watch the game on ESPN, while the action can also be live streamed on Watch ESPN.
