GEMS coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki feels his charges have fully acclimatised to conditions in the United Kingdom ahead of the Celtic International Netball Cup tournament that begins in Glasgow, Scotland tomorrow.
Zimbabwe arrived in England last week and headed straight to Wales where they engaged the Welsh Feathers in two world ranking matches on Friday and Saturday.
They lost both matches, first suffering a 50-42 defeat before succumbing to a 62-41 loss in the second duel.
The Gems then travelled to Scotland on Sunday.
They were scheduled to play the Scotland national Under 21 side last night as part of their preparations for the Celtic Cup.
In another build up assignment to the Celtic Cup, the Gems will face-off against the Scottish senior side in another ranking match today.
Despite losing the two games against Wales in the double showdown that also floored Blessing Kahari and Nobukhosi Ndlovu, Mutsauki has remained confident his girls will do well in the Celtic Cup.
Kahari was able to train yesterday but Ndlovu is still on the treatment table.
"I believe the two games that we played against Wales helped us in a huge way. Look, the girls got to learn a thing or two in those defeats.
"I think, if we had won, we wouldn't have learnt anything.
"We got to have all our players on the court and that is very helpful in terms of what we intend to achieve in this tournament," said Mutsauki.
"Both games were very competitive and I believe the first one which we lost by eight points drained us a lot.
"That's why we seemed to fizzle down easily in the second game which we then lost by 21 points. Perhaps the players were fearing to get knocks and I also think Wales picked from the first game how to exploit our weaknesses and we were slower in doing the same but I salute my girls' spirit.
"We really got to test ourselves and I believe we have that competitive edge in us going into this tournament.
"Everyone in the squad is excited and they are raring to go. It's a tournament where we need to make our mark and be the team that we have always wanted to become."
Zimbabwe begin their hunt for the prestigious trophy with a date against Northern Ireland tomorrow.
While they have an idea of how Wales play and they will probably have a hint on the same on Scotland if they play them in a ranking match tonight, the Gems will have to rely more on research about the Northern Ireland Warriors.
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"We have been in the UK for almost a week now and we should be used to all the conditions here and that should put us in a good space to compete.
"Northern Ireland is always a difficult team to play against and they will certainly come at us because everyone wants to win this trophy," said Mutsauki.
"It's a match that we need to win to be able to put things in the right track in this tournament. It is a game that I believe will be very tough but I think we are ready to rumble.
"If we do our things well, we will be able to work out a winning formula and get the win."
Zimbabwe will then play Scotland on Friday before concluding the round-robin phase with a duel against Wales a day later.
Teams who finish third and fourth after the conclusion of the round-robin will face-off in the third-place play-off with the first and second positioned sides coming face-to-face in the final on Sunday.
The Gems will then move to England for a friendly game against the Vitality Roses next week before flying back on November 13.
