Two days after the high of a thrilling Sheffield Shield victory in the Scott Mason Memorial Match, Tasmania was unable to repeat the dose against Victoria in their One Day Cup clash at Ninja Stadium.
Not even the inclusion of Hobart Hurricanes star Tim David could inspire the Tigers, who suffered a 138-run defeat under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method as the visitors dominated proceedings.
After being sent in by Tigers skipper Jordan Silk, Victoria amassed 7-304, laying the foundations through openers Tom Rogers (53 from 49 balls) and Matt Short (70 from 91).
The pair put on 92 for the opening wicket at better than a run a ball, before Campbell Kellaway (69 from 71) and Peter Handscomb (47 from 41) maintained the momentum through the middle and latter stages of the innings.
Tasmania did well to restrict the damage after Victoria's strong start, thanks largely to another impressive spell from emerging spinner Raf MacMillan.
MacMillan continued his promising start to life at domestic level, returning the economical figures of 1-36 from his 10 overs, while young quick Jack Montgomery (1-65) also showed glimpses of his potential.
The Tigers' run chase never gathered momentum, with Mitch Owen falling in the opening over before the hosts slumped to 3-25 inside seven overs.
Victorian debutant Matt Hennig, who regularly clocked speeds in excess of 145km/h, then produced a superb delivery to bowl Silk in his opening over, leaving Tasmania reeling at 4-67 when rain interrupted play in the 16th over.
A delay of just over an hour saw 15 overs lost and Tasmania's target revised to 276 under the DLS method.
With David, playing just his second match in Tigers colours, at the crease alongside Caleb Jewell (47 not out), there was still a glimmer of hope for the hosts.
However, when David departed in the second over following the resumption, any hopes of an unlikely comeback quickly faded as player of the match Mitch Perry (4-9) tore through the lower order and the Tigers were bowled out for 137.
Jewell felt Tasmania had done enough with the ball to give themselves a realistic chance of victory, but acknowledged the early wickets had made the chase particularly difficult.
“At halfway I thought we had bowled pretty well, especially our spinners and big Monty as well through the middle overs,” Jewell said.
“I thought that was probably a par score but the conditions did change maybe a little bit and then losing early wickets in a DLS game is not ideal. One of those ones where you either get close or you don’t.
“They’re pretty experienced bowlers to be fair, Mitch Perry is one of the best bowlers around when he is up and going. He got the ball to talk and we couldn’t get away really, and when you combine that with losing wickets, it makes it pretty tough and the run rate climbs.”
Despite the disappointing result, Jewell was full of praise for MacMillan, whose growing confidence and consistency continue to be a bright spot for Tasmania.
“You can tell his confidence is growing, the more he has played, he was a pretty nervous guy his first couple of games but he has grown into that role beautifully and he is someone we can rely on now.”