IRELAND must put their defeat to South Africa behind them if they are to have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, according to captain William Porterfield.
They face fellow Pool B opponents Zimbabwe, who are ranked directly below them in the table, tomorrow at the Bellerive Ovel in Hobart, in a game they need to win if they are to progress from the group.
Matches against defending champions India, and Pakistan, follow within the next six days, in what is a crucial period for Ireland’s cricketers.
Porterfield insists that his team cannot dwell on the 201-run loss at the hands of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, their first defeat of the World Cup campaign that took place in Canberra, and must look ahead to the next challenge.
"You've got to put it behind yourself pretty quickly," he said. "The tournament's back-end fixtures come pretty quickly for us.
"It's a pretty big two points for us... [but] I don't think it's make or break. Every game, we've gone into it looking for those two points... and against Zimbabwe it's not going to be any different."
Despite the defeat by South Africa, Ireland head into the fixture with two wins against the West Indies and UAE under their belt.
Zimbabwe will be without their captain Elton Chigumbura due to injury, after he tore a thigh muscle during last weekend's defeat against Pakistan in Brisbane.
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