With Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the first Test against Sri Lanka with injury Tremain, the JLT Sheffield Shield’s reigning MVP, was overlooked as his replacement in favour of West Australian Jhye Richardson.

That selection shock came on the back of Richardson’s strong One-Day International form, despite Tremain also being the Shield’s premier bowler over the last three seasons and being in the Australia squad for the first two Tests against India earlier this summer.

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Richardson’s no red-ball slouch and is third on the Shield’s wicket-taking stakes with 27 at 19.3, but Tremain trumps him there too with 28 at 23.60 and also took 1-67 across 27 overs against the Sri Lankans last week, as part of the Cricket Australia XI.

With no Shield cricket being played during the Big Bash League season a lack of cricket may have hurt the former Kinross quick, he hadn’t featured for the Melbourne Renegades although he was recalled to their squad for Tuesday night’s clash with the Sydney Thunder.

Even his Big Bash coach, former Test all-rounder Andrew McDonald, admitted the big quick’s been a bit hard done by, although he confirmed Tremain has been in touch with chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns.

“Trem has spoken to Trevor Hohns, which I suppose is the usual course of events,” McDonald said.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of that dialogue, but it’s nice [that] they are chatting around it.

“You would say that Trem’s unlucky, purely based on the Shield numbers that he’s put up in the last three years. But in the Australian cricket team, there’s so many good players to choose from.

“[Tremain is] pretty philosophical about things. He understands selection is subjective.

“That’s just part and parcel of living life on the fringes.”

Tremain’s no guarantee to play in Tuesday night’s clash with the Thunder at Spotless Stadium, McDonald confirming he’d battle for the final spot with Jon Holland.

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The spin-friendly deck at Homebush is likely to be the determining factor, with the Renegades heading into the clash with five wins and five losses, still very much fighting for a finals spot.

“We’ve been a bit patchy in terms of our form, there’s no doubt about that,” McDonald said.

“More probably so in the batting department than the bowling and fielding side of things. But you never know. The form line’s been quite erratic with most teams this season.”

The clash kicks off at 7.15pm.