Captain Heath Streak said Zimbabwe had nowhere to hide after they were beaten by New Zealand in Bloemfontein.
Streak was electric in the closing stages of Zimbabwe's innings
The six-wicket defeat leaves the tournament co-hosts rooted to the bottom of the Super Six table.
Nathan Astle's century guided the Black Caps home in the 48th over after Zimbabwe had set them 253 to win.
"We were beaten by the better team on the day," Streak admitted.
"We had a bit of a bad start. We started slowly and lost a few
"We fought back and got a total that we tried to defend but we were probably
30 runs shy.
"In the end we didn't have enough runs on the scoreboard."
Zimbabwe were indebted to Streak's unbeaten 72 and Tatenda Taibu's maiden one-day fifty.
The pair gave Zimbabwe a total to defend after coming together with the side reeling on 106 for six.
But a calf injury suffered by spinner Brian Murphy during practice in-between innings left Zimbabwe's attack light.
"The injury to Brian Murphy did not help because we were a
bowler short, but we were beaten by a better team," Streak added.
"Good luck to New Zealand."
Zimbabwe must now win both of their remaining Super Six games against Kenya and Sri Lanka to stand a chance of progressing to the semi-finals.