Tasmania regroup to shrug off bonus-point debacle

A defiant Tasmania one-day side say they would have no hesitation to chase the bonus point again as they seek to shrug off a horror batting collapse against Victoria in the Marsh One-Day Cup.

Cruising towards a victory target of 186 with just 14 runs to get in the next 72 balls on Monday evening in Perth, Tasmania decided they'd throw the bat.

Under the Marsh Cup playing conditions, a side batting second can earn a bonus point if they chase down the target before the end of the 40th over.

Tasmania's 12th man delivered a message after the 38th over to go for the bonus point, leaving them 14 runs to get in 12 balls.

It backfired in spectacular fashion as they lost 6-12, and the match by a single run. The lure of a bonus point saw them finish with zero points.

Tasmania opener Ben McDermott, who top-scored with 78, was left "shattered" by the result after he became the third batsman to fall in quick succession after the message came from the dressing room to chase the extra point.

But after a debrief and a night's sleep to take stock, Tasmania have regrouped and are feeling "pretty good" ahead of facing Western Australia on their home turf in Wednesday's Marsh Cup action.

"We had a little debrief yesterday and this morning just before training and tried to brush it off as much as possible and move on to the next game," McDermott told cricket.com.au. "You have to do that with back-to-back games.

"We were going for the bonus point obviously, so we knew that could happen. That was always a risk.

"Unfortunately we couldn't get the job done (to claim the win) with the bottom three (batsmen) after the 40-over mark had gone.

"There's still lots of positives to take out of it, it was our first game of the season and if we had our chance again, we're getting that nine times out of 10.

"We could have played, I'd guess you'd say, 'negative' cricket, and just knocked it around to get that win but we went for the bonus point and unfortunately it didn't come off.

"We've got to wear the consequences that we didn't win the game.”

The collapse became a viral sensation that echoed around the cricket world, the final few overs overshadowing what was otherwise an impressive display from the Tasmanians.

Victoria were reduced to 5-64 in the 18th over before a rearguard helped them limp to 185 in 47.5 overs.

"Jackson Bird was excellent, he bowled 10 (overs) on the trot, got the ball moving around like he normally would," McDermott said of the opener who finished with 2-27.

"Debutant Nathan Ellis was really good (in claiming 3-35 from 8.5 overs) and Riley Meredith (1-33) was showing how scary he can be with his pace and bounce at the WACA, and Gurinder Sandhu was really good as well.

"We're not too disheartened about it. We played the better cricket but just that final three-over period cost us the game."

McDermott spent time in the winter at the MRF Academy in India with Cricket Australia's National Performance Squad and has hit the ground running to open the domestic season.

Consistency is his mantra for the 2019-20 summer as he seeks to become a three-format player.

"I just want to play well for Tasmania and have a really good all-round season," the 24-year-old said.

"I think I've been really good in different formats in different years. My one-day stuff was really good last year but my (Sheffield) Shield stuff lacked, the year before that I had a good Big Bash and decent one-day series and lacked in the Shield, so I want an all-round good year for Tassie, that's my main goal."