Western Australia coach Tom Moody has turned the heat up on his team's underperforming senior players ahead of Wednesday's Ford Ranger Cup game with the NSW Blues at the WACA.
WA won its opening Ford Ranger Cup game of the season at home against Queensland, but has since lost to the Bulls, Blues and Victoria as well as coughing up a first innings lead to lose outright to the Bushrangers last week at the MCG in the Sheffield Shield.
That has left Moody frustrated in his team's lack of ability to perform when under pressure and the Warriors' chances won't be helped by losing Marcus North to the Test side and Ashley Noffke to injury.
Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges return from the Australian team that played in India, and fast bowler Steve Magoffin has been recalled.
The Blues have won one from two this season and will be without Test players Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Doug Bollinger, Nathan Hauritz and Shane Watson, but have added Moises Henriques, David Warner, Grant Lambert, Daniel Smith and Ben Rohrer to their squad.
Stuart Clark will captain the Blues for the first time as NSW looks to back up the win over the Warriors in Sydney on November 1 and bounce back from a loss to Tasmania. The Blues dominated the last clash with WA with Cockley taking 4-39, Phillip Hughes hitting 70 and Phil Jaques 50.
Only Wes Robinson showed any fight for the Warriors with 78 and it's been the scenario that Moody has seen far too often this season and last. He desperately wants his more senior players to step up and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
"In the last year and a half we've had two players in our batting line-up who have stood up. One is playing Test cricket now in Marcus North and the other one is Wes Robinson. He's come out of the club scene in form and has applied his skills out in the middle with a lot of commitment, guts and determination," Moody said.
"There are a number of others who have been around a long time now and need to show some consistency and put in match-winning performances. To do that you need to score hundreds and we see players in other states score two or three a season, but we don't see it too often here in Perth. We need to see Marsh, Voges, (David) Bandy and these players put their hands up."
Moody coached Sri Lanka to a World Cup final and has much of the same support staff with him at the Warriors, so their preparation can't be an excuse. He believes his team has a lack of character to step up when the pressure is on and wants it to start changing this week against the Blues.
"We've been very ordinary in this Ford Ranger Cup competition not only this year, but last year as well and it comes to a point where we are all responsible. Certainly I am as coach for the team's performance, but the players are also," he said.
"We need them to step up out of the shadows to make a contribution, especially when we are under pressure. I'm putting my hand up to take responsibility, but there's a number of people that need to do that in our playing group. If they can't deliver out in the middle we need to find people who will."
"They are aware that they are letting themselves down, the team down and passionate West Australian fans down. I was very fortunate enough to play in a successful era and I look forward to that coming back, but at the moment we need to play tougher cricket with a lot more passion, dedication and application out in the middle than we are at the moment."
Western Australia:
Adam Voges (captain), Shaun Marsh, Wes Robinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitch Marsh, Theo Doropoulos, Luke Ronchi, Justin Coetzee, Aaron Heal, Steve Magoffin, Brett Dorey, Michael Hogan, Brad Knowles.
New South Wales: Stuart Clark (captain), David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Dominic Thornely, Ben Rohrer, Moises Henriques, Steven Smith, Daniel Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Grant Lambert, Burt Cockley.