Zimbabwe vs. UAE: Date, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

The eighth match of the 2015 World Cup pits Zimbabwe against the United Arab Emirates, and while this clash perhaps lacks the glamour of some of the bigger games, an interesting contest should be in store.

Let's take a look at how these two sides are shaping up and who could be the danger men ahead of their Pool B tussle.

Venue: Nelson, New Zealand

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015

Start time: 11 a.m. local time, 10 p.m. GMT

Weather: According to Weather.com it should be a great day for cricket. Predominantly sunshine reaching a high of 28 degrees Celsius with just 10 per cent chance of rain.

Live stream/TV Info: Sky Sports (UK), Fox Sports and Nine Network (Australia), STAR Sports (India), Eurosport 2 (Europe), Sky TV (New Zealand) and many more here.

Preview

The real story here is: How much of a gap is there actually between the highest-ranked Associate/Affiliate team, UAE and the 10th-ranked ODI nation in the world, Zimbabwe?

Many of the pre-match signals suggest a lot. The UAE looked vulnerable in their two warm-up games, conceding over 300 runs twice, most worryingly against Afghanistan.

And, given that all of their players are making their World Cup debuts, there has to be a fear as to how they will cope on the big stage. 

On the plus side, they can certainly take heart from Ireland's performance against the West Indies and also that they are the top-ranked Associate side in the world.

But they will need Khurram Khan to get in and find support from one of his less experienced colleagues. Additionally, their phalanx of spinners will need to find their range and keep control.

And if they do, then...who knows what is possible?

Zimbabwe have already begun their World Cup campaign, with an unsurprising defeat against South Africa, but there were some encouraging aspects, despite the loss.

While their bowlers took some heavy punishment at the hands of David Miller and JP Duminy, decent innings from Chamu Chibhabha and Hamilton Masakadza will give them confidence.

As will the fact that, less than six months ago, they beat Australia at Harare!

But they've endured some in a few-months run since then, including being whitewashed in a five-match ODI series against Bangladesh.

Clearly, they will be relying on their big-game players such as Masakadza and Brendan Taylor to perform and the sight of the UAE's batsmen shouldn't intimidate their bowling unit quite as much as the sight of the Proteas array of big hitters did.

The sides have never met in a 50-over clash, but Zimbabwe won comfortably with 38 balls to spare when they clashed in the T20 World Cup last March.

50-over Form Lines (most recent first)

Zimbabwe: LWNLLLLL

UAE: LLWLWWLW

Squads

Zimbabwe (from): Elton Chigumbura (c), Regis Chakabva (wk), Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Solomon Mire, Tawanda Mupariwa, Tinashe Panyangara, Sikandar Raza, Brendan Taylor (wk), Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams

UAE (from): Khurram Khan (c), Mohammad Tauqir (vc), Amjad Ali, Amjad Javed, Andri Berenger, Fahad Alhashmi, Manjula Guruge, Kamran Shazad, Krishna Chandran, Mohammad Naveed, Nasir Aziz, Swapnil Patil (wk), Rohan Mustafa, Saqlain Haider, Shaiman Anwar

Players to Watch

Zimbabwe

Somewhat surprisingly Hamilton Masakadza made his World Cup debut against South Africa and performed strongly with a fluid half-century. The 31-year-old made his international debut 14 years ago but missed the 2003, 2007 and 2011 for personal reasons and loss of form. However, the powerful right-hander seems in good nick and could do some damage here.

UAE

The UAE generally look to one man for runs, composure and leadership...Khurram Khan. Despite only playing 10 ODIs, the 43-year-old veteran is clearly their best player, and, as captain, he leads from the front. If the left-hander can occupy the crease for a while, then there's a chance that the UAE can set or chase a decent total.

Prediction

Got to go for Zimbabwe on this occasion who just seem to possess more ability, experience and depth in the areas that matter.