Adam Voges remains confident Western Australia can turn around its poor Sheffield Shield form despite being routed by New South Wales inside three days.
WA now has four points from four games to be equal bottom of the Shield table after an eight-wicket loss to the Blues that seemed inevitable after the Warriors made just 131 after being sent in on the opening day.
Only Shaun Marsh (94 in the second innings) and brother Mitch (59 not out in the first innings) put their head down to fight through some hard times with the bat on a lively pitch while Voges, Luke Towers, Theo Doropoulos and Justin Coetzee, in particular, continued their struggle this season.
Despite that, Voges sees the batsmen being able to turn it around and they will use the disappointment of a thrashing to do so.
"To get sent in we always knew it was going to be tough on that first morning, but having said that it certainly wasn't a 131 all out wicket. It was obviously disappointing from the batsmen's point of view and we were always chasing our tail after that," Voges said.
"I've got plenty of faith in our batting group and it was tough conditions out there. They've got two Test bowlers in their attack who bowled pretty well. I have faith that this group can turn it around and I've got no doubt that we will."
All of NSW's quicks bowled well with Doug Bollinger leading the way, but Stuart Clark, Josh Hazlewood and Moises Henriques also gave the Warriors plenty of trouble. The pitch had plenty of moisture and bounce in it, which Voges wasn't totally happy about.
"He (Bollinger) bowled well in pretty good conditions. That WACA wicket is getting back to where WA wants it I believe. It had good pace, good bounce and did a little too much on that first day that favoured the bowlers a little bit," he said.
"We just have to be better at identifying those conditions and getting through those tough moments. When you have these fast, bouncy wickets getting in and starting your innings is often the toughest time. We saw that once guys got past 10 or 15 it gets easier."
Voges is confident that the Warriors can rack up some much-needed points in away matches to Tasmania and South Australia before Christmas.
"If you look at the points in the competition we are certainly nowhere near out of it," he said.
"We've only played four games and obviously we have a big road trip coming up to Tasmania and South Australia, and in three weeks' time we will know a lot more. We have some work to do, but there's no reason we can't turn this around."
Voges only contributed innings' of two and one in the match, but his second dig won't be forgotten as he was given out caught behind by debutant umpire Paul Wilson, before he reversed his decision.
"It's the first time I've ever seen that. Hats off to 'Blocker' for doing that. He made a mistake, but had the courage to overturn the decision and in the end got it right," he said.
"That's what we are after for the umpires to get it right and that's why the referral system is being used in the Test series. It's his first game and to have the courage to overturn the decision to get it right was very good."