Tremain charging towards Matador

Victoria's Chris Tremain is hoping to carry his sparkling form into the summer after delivering back-to-back five-wicket hauls for Australia A in the Quadrangular Winter Series.

With fellow pacemen Peter Siddle and James Pattinson nursing back complaints, Tremain looks well placed to play a significant role for the Commonwealth Bank Bushrangers when the Matador Cup rolls around.

The 25-year-old snared 5-47 from nine overs in Australia A's 12-run defeat in Tuesday's rain-interrupted fixture against the National Performance Squad in Townsville.

"I've put my hand up (for Victoria) and have done the best I can now," Tremain said.

"As a one-day bowler, I've still got so much I've got to do and learn, but the catch-22 of that is I've got to play to learn.

"I'm hoping to get as much out of these next few games as I can so I can go back to Victoria and put them into practice again."

Tremain removed player of the match Hilton Cartwright (81), Sean Abbott (44) and Michael Neser (31), along with Victorian teammates Sam Harper (25) and Matthew Short (1), as the NPS logged 9-231 from 49 overs.

The performance came only two days after the right-arm fast bowler returned career-best figures of 5-25 against India A.

Yesterday's fixture was punctuated by three rain delays, leaving Australia A with a target of 190 from 28 overs. They finished 7-177, with Cameron Bancroft (37 not out) and Tremain (26 not out) at the crease.

Tremain said his red-hot form had come as a welcome surprise.

"I'd played four List A games before this at an average of about 80," he said.

"It surprised me the first wicket I took against India and then the rest of it sort of came through and relaxed me a little bit.

"With wet-weather cricket, it was a matter of running in and bashing that length and getting something out of the moisture in the ground and moisture in the wicket."

Tremain said he had worked closely with former Australian speedster and Bushrangers bowling coach Mick Lewis over the past two seasons.

"Game day, match day, he's really good at seeing things that we don't," Tremain said.

Tremain's opportunities for Victoria in the 50-over format have been limited since his arrival, with Siddle, Pattinson, Scott Boland, John Hastings and Daniel Christian filling the bowling spots.

He was overlooked for the Bushrangers' Matador Cup squad last season.

"It sort of frustrated me, not because I wasn't picked, but if you get an injury at the wrong time or if you're not quite there at the time, you've only got a month of one-day cricket," Tremain said.

"If you get injured or if you have those little niggles that keep you out for three or four weeks, that's all your one-day cricket for the year gone.

"If you've got aspirations to play one-day cricket for Australia and they have one-day games around Christmas … you're coming off no one-day experience and haven't played any one-dayers since October.

"I was under an injury cloud, I was not picked for the last Matador Cup squad, so I missed all my one-day cricket for the season because we had a whole lot of better players than me."

Tremain was Victoria's leading Sheffield Shield wicket-taker last summer with 36 victims at 21.05.

He has 77 first-class wickets at 28.14 apiece from 24 matches and is preparing for his third season with the Bushrangers after being cut by New South Wales at the end of 2013-14.

"I genuinely thought that (2013-14) was the end of my career and I wanted to keep playing," he said.

"Funnily enough, I was dead-set on not going to Victoria. I'd played Victoria a couple of times and been on the receiving end of their ruthless way of cricket. I was quite intimidated by the idea."

But a call from then-coach Greg Shipperd changed that, Tremain describing the former-Bushrangers coach as "a driving factor" in his move.

Australia A will next tackle South Africa A in a 50-over clash on Saturday, while the NPS will play India A on Sunday.