NICK HOWSON: For all the encouraging signs over the past few weeks, Craig Ervine's side won't be happy if they're watching the knockout stage unfold from afar
Having been blocked from qualifying for the 2021 tournament in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Zimbabwe are determined to make the most of their campaign in Australia.
After navigating their way through round one and beating Pakistan in the Super 12s, they remain well in the hunt for the semi-finals.
But after the cruel three-run defeat to Bangladesh, The Chevrons can ill afford any further slip-ups. Only wins from their final two matches and favours from elsewhere will only be good enough to stay in contention.
You might be fooled into thinking some impressive victories and outstanding performances, not least of Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani, would be enough for Zimbabwe to take from the competition. But having come this far - their campaign essentially began in July's home qualifying tournament - they're unwilling to exit without a fight.
"Look, I think one of the positives is obviously how far we've come from doing the qualifiers in Zimbabwe to then qualifying here at the World Cup," said captain Craig Ervine, whose side has racked up the air miles during the tournament.
An error-strewn fielding display played a major role in Zimbabwe's defeat to Bangladesh (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
"Just the opportunity to then play at the various stadiums around Australia, to get to see the different sights, although we've only spent a few days in each city, I think the highlight for a lot of the boys was playing at Optus. That stadium is incredible. I don't think we'll probably play at a better stadium.
"I think to top it off, obviously beating Pakistan in such a close game.
"There are so many positives that guys will take from this tournament, regardless of the next two results.
"But obviously the real highlight for us would be to make the semis. I think that would really put the icing on the cake. The guys are still very positive that we'll get there.
"We've just got to come into these last two games with a lot of energy. It has been a long, taxing tour, but we did arrive slightly later, but yeah, so many good things and so many sights that we've seen around Australia, it's been brilliant."
THE BIG MATCHWho: Zimbabwe v NetherlandsWhere: Adelaide Oval, AdelaideWhen: Wednesday, November 2 (2.30pm local time, 4am BST)Prediction: Zimbabwe
Key to bouncing back from the loss to Bangladesh will be improving on a woeful fielding performance at The Gabba when dropped catches, missed run-outs and misfields allowed The Tigers to reach 150 for 7.
"I think the disappointing part was probably our fielding," Ervine added.
"I thought that we do pride ourselves on good fielding, and we could easily have saved 10, 15 runs in the field there. But credit to Sean Williams and Ryan Burl at the back end there to actually get us that close, because at one stage it looked like we weren't going to get close to 150.
"They batted extremely well to give ourselves a chance. I thought we let ourselves down quite heavily in the field, and then at the start of our batting innings, from a position of 35 for 4, it always makes it very difficult to get over the line from there."
Netherlands, the first nation eliminated from the Super 12s, will be hoping to play the role of a disruptor in the final rounds.
After dramatically clinched progress to this stage after Namibia were beaten by the United Arab Emirates, Logan van Beek admits "the novelty has kind of worn off" following four defeats in a row.
Netherlands are eager to do themselves justice (TREVOR COLLENS/AFP via Getty Images)
After slumping to a nine-run loss against Bangladesh, a match the Dutch had circled as an opportunity, and gone head-to-head with India, Van Beek says the group were "embarrassed" by the six-wicket defeat to Pakistan.
"That last match against Pakistan, we felt embarrassed, really," he said.
"We put in a performance that we know we are much more capable of doing a lot better than that.
"Most of the guys are here to make sure that we put in our best effort and performances into these last two games because we really felt like we haven't fulfilled our potential yet.
"We've got some great cricketers in this team, and we're just hoping that we can fire as a group coming into these last few games."
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.