The big-hitting 24-year-old made 50 in a 102-run rebuild project with George Bailey to help the Hurricanes recover from 3-11 after in-form star openers D’Arcy Short and Matthew Wade failed to fire. 

The Melbourne Renegades chased down 5-145 with six wickets and four balls to spare, but McDermott said his side had been pleased to set a challenging target after a rough start. 

“It had to happen at some stage, it would have been nice to win the toss and bowl first and see what the wicket did,” McDermott said. 

“Losing three wickets in a powerplay didn’t help - those two are human after all, D’Arcy and Matty.

“It was the first time that’s happened this season obviously, but it was good to know we’ve got the depth and strength to put a good total on the board when you lose three for not many.

“So it was a bit of a positive to take out of it that we’ve got good depth and we can actually post good scores after that start.”

The Hurricanes pulled off four consecutive run chases prior to Monday night’s loss, and are expected to employ the same tactic for the remainder of the tournament. 

“I think most teams are looking to chase this Big Bash so far, the wickets haven’t been great and we don’t really know what we’re getting on some grounds. 

“Obviously Bellerive has been really good and it’s nice to chase - we’ve been lucky with the toss so far we’ve been chasing most of the games.”

McDermott said he was not privy to discussions about if or how the Hurricanes would replace injured English quick Tymal Mills, but said another international signature would be the “icing on the cake”.