The three-time reigning champions are bottom of the One-Day Cup standings after being bowled out for 53
Don't put it past us: Voges' WA target one-day turnaround
Adam Voges says he wouldn't write off his champion side winning an unprecedented fourth straight title just yet despite Western Australia slipping to the bottom of the men's one-day standings following their 53-run capitulation.
The three-time reigning champions lost their final eight wickets for just one run as Tasmanian quicks Beau Webster (6-17) and Billy Stanlake (3-12) orchestrated an astonishing collapse at the WACA Ground on Friday.
Their 53 all out was WA's lowest total in the men's One-Day Cup's 55-year history, and the second worst overall behind South Australia's 51 in 2003, also at the hands of Tasmania.
It leaves Voges' men languishing in last place with more than half of their seven round robin games completed.
While they are only five points adrift of second-placed Victoria, the top three of NSW, the Vics and Tasmania each have four games in hand to WA's three.
Their seven-wicket thrashing inside 30 overs on Friday also saw their net run-rate (-1.093) take a significant hit, meaning they likely need to win their final three matches convincingly to be any chance of reaching the top two to qualify for the final.
But Voges believes if any team could do it, it would be this WA outfit.
"We've made life very difficult for ourselves now losing those couple of close ones over in Sydney," said Voges, whose team began the season with an eight-run loss to NSW followed by a two-run loss to SA.
"I imagine the net run-rate takes a pretty bad hammering (after this loss).
"We've got three games left, we're going to have to win them and win them well.
"You don't put it past this group with what they've been able to achieve but we've certainly made it tough for ourselves."
Western Australia won't need to look far for inspiration to help with the task ahead after winning their final two Sheffield Shield games last season and drawing a third to surge into top spot on their way to a hat-trick of titles, to go with their three-peat of one-day championships.
Should they manage to again reach the pinnacle of the 50-over competition this summer, they would become the first state to win four consecutive men's One-Day Cup titles.
But the more immediate focus for Voges – who admitted his initial reaction to their collapse was one of "shock" – and his coaching staff is to help the group learn from the experience as they look to rebound in their next one-dayer against Victoria in a fortnight.
"The boys are very disappointed," he said.
"Credit to Tasmania, it was a good toss to win, the ball did a fair bit, but I thought the way Stanlake and Webster bowled was very good and we just didn't have answers for it.
"It looked like a really good wicket; we would have bowled first if we won the toss, but I don't think we were disappointed to be batting first.
"At 1-45, even though it was doing a fair bit, we thought we'd done the hard work, and then unfortunately that proved not to be in the case.
"The challenge to the group is if we do find ourselves in that position again, what can we do differently and what lessons can we take out of (the match)?"
With Tasmania's chase only taking 8.3 overs, WA's returning fast bowlers Joel Paris (calf), Jhye Richardson (workload management) and Lance Morris (quad strain) all turned out for their Premier Cricket clubs over the weekend to get some overs under their belt.
"Really pleased to see Joel back out there for his first game of the season," Voges said.
WA again take on Tasmania in their next domestic fixture in their round three Shield clash at Bellerive Oval beginning on Friday.