Renegades quick talks down impressive performance, says he isn't disappointed to be out of Test squad after India selection
Tremain happy to wait on Baggy Green
Chris Tremain could be forgiven for viewing himself as one of those unlucky cricket stories who's spent his time at the top of Australia's domestic cricket ranks at the same time as some incredibly skilled contemporaries.
With an exuberant amount of fast bowling talent keenly putting their hands up behind Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins in all formats of international cricket, Tremain has struggled to even get a game with the Renegades this season, let alone on the bigger stage.
But last night in just his second KFC Big Bash appearance of BBL|08 after going wicketless in his first, the 27-year-old tore through the Scorchers' top-order and effectively sealed the match with his devastating figures of 3-9.
His three over spell upfront, combined with Kane Richardson's solid cameo (1-6 off 3), restricted the Scorchers to 4-12 by the end of the powerplay.
Despite his figures reading as the second best bowling card by a Renegades player, the Victorian was quick to deflect from the lethal display
"That's the best (T20 he's ever played) but I've said it a million times tonight, they don't always go that way," Tremain said.
"It can be a brutal game – it can go pear-shaped really fast, and tonight I was fortunate that it didn't.
"I think I was really fortunate anyway, with a chop on, one off the glove onto the pad onto the wicket, and then Mitch Marsh picking out the only guy out there on the mid-wicket boundary.
"So even the wickets I think were pretty fortunate but there was a lot of work that sort of went around those that I was pretty pleased with."
Tremain's struggle to squeeze his way into the Renegades' best XI is a far cry from his role in the JLT Sheffield Shield, where he's arguably been Victoria's best frontline quick for the past three seasons.
The boy from Dubbo sits only behind his new-ball partner, Scott Boland (36 wickets at 17.4), on this year's wicket-taker's list with 28 scalps at 23.6.
His prolific red ball form saw him included in Australia's 14-man squad for the first two Tests again India in December, but he's since fallen behind West Aussie Jhye Richardson in the pecking order, who made his Test debut last week against Sri Lanka.
The selection game is not one Tremain is getting caught up in.
"I guess that's the catch 22 isn't it, that I didn't do anything wrong," Tremain said.
"So I'm not too disappointed about it - if I'd done something wrong I'd be pretty disappointed in myself."
Instead, the right-armer sees the depth in Australia's pace stocks as something to be celebrated.
"It's really cool that in Australia we've got no shortage of fast bowlers, we've got three of the best in the world and then on the sidelines we've got Peter Siddle biding his time waiting for his opportunity, and then Jhye Richardson got his opportunity the other day and did extremely well," Tremain said.
"So the exciting part about Australian cricket at the moment is that we don't have shortage of fast bowlers
"I can't be too bitter and too grumpy about it, because who's spot are you going to take?
"There's five names right there that you either have to wait to fall over or leap frog and I think only one of them is a viable option at the moment."
Tremain says his focus is to stay out on the park and continue to put his hand up for selection, something his Player of the Match performance against the Scorchers might've taken care of ahead of their next clash on Wednesday against the Thunder.