His Western Australia side have been thrashed by Tasmania and Victoria at their last two starts but coach Justin Langer refuses to give up on the Sheffield Shield season.
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The Warriors - without Test tourists Cameron Bancroft, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh and Jhye Richardson - lost to Victoria by 255 runs on Tuesday to slip to second-last with road games against Queensland and South Africa to come.
WA resumed after the Big Bash League with a strong win over NSW before being thrashed by an innings and 87 runs by Tasmania in Hobart, where they fielded three debutants.
There was no such excuse in Perth, with D'Arcy Short, Ashton Agar, Andrew Tye and Marcus Stoinis - who took seven wickets for the match - all back in action.
The difference was Travis Dean (111) and Aaron Finch (151 not out) scoring centuries in either innings when no WA batsman could and Chris Tremain claiming 10 wickets for the match for the Bushrangers.
For Langer, it was another case of his team being bullied by experienced players.
"Last game it was Matthew Wade who bullied us and Aaron Finch this game. Peter Siddle is leading their bowlers who have been around for a while too," Langer said.
"As ironic as it seems with the last two results, we are still in the hunt for that second position. It sounds diabolical and these last two results have been, but in terms of the bigger picture we are still in the hunt."
Simon Mackin, man of the match against NSW, led the WA attack but had a horror game against Victoria.
He could barely keep the ball on the wicket and his first over of the third day was so wayward he didn't reappear for the rest of the innings.
Langer struggled to explain it but backed the 25-year-old to bounce back.
"Maybe he just went away from being himself but I'm sure he'll get that back," Langer said.
"He hasn't lost his ability or talent overnight, he was just a bit off this game which is unusual for Simon Mackin who is the heartbeat of our team and does such a great job."
Australian Associated Press