Flower wears his white armband (Getty Images).

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Holland team manager Hans Mulder has insisted it would be "a great shame" if Zimbabwe dropped Andy Flower for Friday's meeting of the teams in Bulawayo on the grounds of his political stance.

The Zimbabwean team's star middle-order batsman was close to being left out of the team for their match against Australia on Monday, as punishment for his political protest against the autocratic regime of Robert Mugabe.

But a team revolt led to his inclusion, although fellow protester Henry Olonga remained dubiously sidelined.

Mulder told PA International: "We always like to play the strongest side possible and in Zimbabwe's case that always includes Andy Flower and Henry Olonga.

"Flower's played plenty of club cricket in Holland before, and he's a good friend of Dutch cricket, so we look forward to seeing him playing against us tomorrow. It would be a great shame if he was not involved."

Olonga's exile could continue, and he has been made the scapegoat for the pair's decision to don black armbands in their opening World Cup match in Namibia, being expelled by his club side and losing his automatic place in the national team.

Holland have cut their trip to Bulawayo short, from three days to two, and Mulder's explanation of why that happened differed to that of team captain Roland Lefebvre.

While Lefebvre blamed "the problems involving Zimbabwe", Mulder pointed out that the Dutch players were tired after their defeat by Pakistan on Tuesday and required another day's rest before flying on to their next destination.

Mulder said: "They were tired and wanted to relax for a little longer. In all honesty we've left the Zimbabwe issue behind us now.

"There's been lots of talk but we're here to play now. Security is the key issue and we were assured that that is not a problem. There have been no troubles so far, and we expect that to be the way things continue.

"There's not much going on in the streets here.

"We saw queues for petrol stations, which we found unusual, but that was the only sign of any problem."

There was rain on Thursday night in Bulawayo, which cut short the Dutch team's practice session, and more was expected, though light, on Friday.

Holland have suffered four successive defeats so far at the World Cup, to India, England, Australia and Pakistan.

Yet Mulder believes the Dutch can finish their campaign on a high, and insists the remaining matches against Zimbabwe and Namibia offer the opportunity for his team to make an impression on the ICC as they seek full one-day international status.

"Obviously the first four matches were the most difficult, and we knew that would be the case," he added.

"We haven't played Zimbabwe since they became full members of the ICC so it's been eight years and they have improved a lot in that period.

"Namibia is the one we're really looking forward to, and that's a match we should win. If we defeat the Zimbabweans, that will be a bonus.

"If we can improve our batting we have a good chance. Our bowling and fielding have been good so far, but you can practice those.

"The problem is that you can't practice batting against the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram, so that's been difficult.

"There's only one way to improve and that's by facing these bowlers all the time, so we hope the ICC are taking note.

"I think our batsmen are capable of making runs, and not just 20s and 30s, but big scores. They just need to play themselves in and get confidence.

Zimbabwe coach Geoff Marsh will be forced to cope without all-rounder Grant Flower, who has a finger injury.

The Zimbabweans must win the match to stand a chance of qualifying for the Super Six stage, yet rumours persist about whether Marsh will be allowed to select Andy Flower.

"Andy is fit for tomorrow but Grant is not playing. He's got five stitches in his finger and so we leave him out and Mark Vermeulen comes back in," said Marsh.

Matabeleland opener Vermeulen was dropped for the game against Australia with Midlands all-rounder Douglas Marillier taking his place.

Like Mulder, Marsh feared the weather could intervene.

"We don't want rain. We want to play the game, play well and win the game," he said.

"If we don't play well it's the end. So the important thing is that we play well tomorrow and win and we will then look at where we will be at after that."

Marsh has ordered his bowlers to keep things tight in the opening overs of Holland's innings.

"We've just bowled too much width and too full at times," said Marsh.

"We have just got to get the guys to get the ball in the right areas, bowl straight and create some pressure which brings along wickets."