Andrew Balbirnie accepts that it is win or bust for Ireland in their remaining two World Cup qualifying matches in Bulawayo after their horror start to the campaign.

Going into the tournament with just one victory in their last 11 one-day internationals and virtually straight out of a Lord’s Test match – not the ideal preparation – it probably wasn’t such a shock to continue the losing sequence. But the lower quality opposition this week (Oman and Scotland) and the manner of the defeats have been a rude awakening to the squad.

“We targeted the first two games because they are teams we should be beating but we didn’t,” said Balbirnie. “The beauty of this tournament is that every team is capable of beating any team and unfortunately we have been on the wrong side of that twice now.

“We knew we had to start the tournament well and clearly we haven’t done that and we are going to have to be at our very best to win the next two.”

With every team in the five-team group having a free match-day, it is Ireland’s turn today – while Sri Lanka play Oman and Scotland face UAE – but when asked if the three-day break is just what the squad needs, the captain was unsure.

“If we come out and beat Sri Lanka on Sunday it will have helped and if we don’t I’ll say it didn’t, but the guys probably need a break, take their minds off it. After losing two games so quickly it’s a big uphill task for us now and we have to get our heads round having to win two games to hopefully get through.”

On a personal level, Balbirnie also has to work out how to get runs on the board to help his team. Although he scored a half-century in the final ODI against Bangladesh in Chelmsford, he has failed to get out of single figures since then, with a first-ball duck, his low point on Wednesday against Scotland.

I haven’t had a great two or three weeks, I’ve been through ups and downs in my career so I won’t get too down in the doldrums, I back my game and the way I go about it and you have more bad days than good. I just need to get going and hopefully I can in the next two games.”

The easiest way for Ireland to progress now is if the Scots lose their remaining three games but that route could be closed today if they follow up their opening win.