Having won matches against the West Indies and the UAE in the space of 15 days, the games will now come thick and fast for Ireland. Next up is their third pool match against the mighty South Africans in Canberra on Tuesday (live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport from 3am).

The South Africans are one of the favourites for the World Cup, but they were hammered by India in their second pool game.

They have also registered big wins against Zimbabwe and the West Indies and they will look to keep their quarter-final qualification hopes alive when they take on Ireland at the 13,000-capacity Manuka Oval.

Ireland will find the South Africans their toughest opponents to date, and in Hashim Amla and AB DeVilliers they possess two of the world's most destructive batsmen.

It will be only the third meeting between the sides, the first being a narrow South Africa win over Ireland in Guyana at the 2007 World Cup.

The second was a game in Belfast as part of a tri-nation series that also included India, while the last meeting between the sides saw Ireland defeated by 131 runs at the 2011 World Cup in India.

So South Africa will go into Tuesday's day-night game as overwhelming favourites.

After the encounter, the gaps and breaks between matches will get shorter and Ireland will quickly move to Hobart in Tasmania for their fourth Pool B tie against Zimbabwe at the Bellerive Oval on Saturday 7 March.

Their penultimate pool game comes against India on Tuesday 10 March at Sneddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand, followed by their final tie against an unpredictable Pakistan on Sunday 15th at the Adelaide Oval.

Ireland will be looking to finish in the top four in order to qualify for the quarter-finals and three wins from their seven games may be enough to advance to the last eight.

Kevin O'Brien's barn-storming performance helped Ireland record a two-wicket performance over the UAE last time out and the Dubliner is poised to deposes the recently-retired Andrew White as Ireland's most capped player.

“It's going to be a proud day for me to take over Whitey's record,” O'Brien admitted. “He's been a great patron and servant to Irish cricket over the last 15 years.”

The 30-year-old is keenly aware of the magnitude of Tuesday's clash against South Africa.

“It's been a great start for us,” said O'Brien.

“Getting the wins is the most important thing, so two wins from two, four points, just one win behind top spot. It's a huge game on Tuesday. If we can turn up and play really well and get another win it puts us in a great position to qualify for the quarter-finals.

“We know South Africa are a very good side and we will start as underdogs but that's when we play our best cricket.”

Team-mate John Mooney is also hopeful of achieving qualification, and said: “It's a World Cup match - they're all huge.

“But if we win this game were looking good for quarter-finals.

“They probably came under a bit of scrutiny after the India game, and rightly so, because they didn't perform to the level they want to perform to, but they turned that round in great fashion in their last game and they just destroyed the West Indies.”

The prospect of facing arguably the world's best batsman in the shape of AB de Villiers isn't necessarily one Mooney is relishing, especially in the wake of his sublime display against the Windies.

“He was just phenomenal,” Mooney admitted. “He seems to be playing a different game to everybody else at the minute.”

Many pundits and fans have aired the view that this is very much a batsmen's World Cup and Monney has echoed that view, saying: “It's an issue for every team at the World Cup.

“With only four men outside the ring there is a bit of debate about it whether it's fair or not on the bowlers.

“At the minute it doesn't seem to be because the batter always has an option and an area on the field where there is a wide-open space to hit the ball into and it just seem to be favouring the batter at the minute.”

Follow Ireland v South Africa from 3am on Tuesday 3 March on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News Now app