Brendan Taylor
Brendan Taylor will be one of the key players for Zimbabwe when they take on minnows UAE in their second World Cup encounter. [Reuters]

UAE will take on Zimbabwe in a Group B fixture of the 2015 ICC World Cup at Nelson, New Zealand on Thursday.

Where to watch live

The match starts at 10pm GMT (Wednesday). Live coverage is on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports 2 HD. Click here for the live streaming link.

Overview

Zimbabwe will be looking to get back to winning ways after their loss to South Africa in their opening World Cup encounter, when they take on minnows UAE. The Zimbabweans put up a brave fight against the AB De Villiers-led side and were stronger than their opponents in certain parts of the match.

They can take confidence from the fact that they beat Sri Lanka in the warm-up matches and will now look to get wins over the associate nations to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockout rounds.

On the other hand, UAE will be playing their first World Cup match in almost 20 years and will be rank outsiders to beat any of the teams in the group. Their captain Mohammed Tauqir has called on his team to take inspiration from Ireland, who beat the West Indies in their opening encounter, and cause a few upsets of their own.

Betting odds (888Sport.com)

  • UAE to win: 17/4
  • Zimbabwe to win: 3/19

What they say

Mohammed Tauqir (UAE captain): "We are looking forward to at least having a couple of wins against Test nations, that's what we are targeting."

Elton Chigumbura (Zimbabwe captain): "The result didn't go our way but there's a lot of positives we can take from that first game."

Team news

UAE

Possible XI: Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil (wk), Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Mohammad Naveed, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Tauqir (capt), Nasir Aziz.

Zimbabwe

Possible XI: Chamu Chibhabha, Sikandar Raza, Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor (wk), Sean Williams, Craig Ervine, Elton Chigumbura (capt), Solomon Mire, Tinashe Panyangara, Tendai Chatara, Tafadzwa Kamungozi.