TASMANIA is determined to use its final match against the white ball today as a launching pad for its red ball campaign, Australia's newest wicketkeeper Ben Dunk says.
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After failing to secure the double bonus point in their win over New South Wales on Monday night at Blacktown, the Tigers will return to North Sydney Oval to face cellar-dweller South Australia.
"It was a little bit bitter-sweet [on Monday] even though we were happy with the win, as it was our best overall performance [of the competition]," Dunk told The Examiner yesterday.
"It is disappointing to be out of the tournament, as we are a much better team than what we displayed in the first half of it, but in these shortened tournaments, you do need to be on for every game.
"We're keen to finish this tournament on a real high, and our intensity won't be dropping at all.
"We'll be going out there to try to make a statement that we are right up there with the top couple of teams."
And, as Dunk says, good cricket is good cricket no matter the format, as the Tigers will soon turn their attention towards their opening Shield clash against Western Australia at the WACA on October 31, which Dunk will miss due to international duty.
"If you are scoring runs, whether it is against the white ball or the red ball, it gives you a lot of confidence, and I imagine that would be the same for the bowlers and taking wickets.
"We're treating it as a great opportunity to get some runs under our belts going forward, and hit the Shield season full of running with players in good form."
Dunk said there were several positives to take out of the cup, including the form of wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine and pace trio Hamish Kingston, Sam Rainbird and Andrew Fekete.
"But our biggest issue has been we haven't been able to put it all together on the one day consistently."
Tasmania and South Australia's previous game in the competition was abandoned due to unsafe ground conditions at Bankstown last Wednesday.
The Redbacks have brought back skipper Johan Botha, Australian ODI paceman Kane Richardson and Andrew McDonald for today's game.