[citation needed] McDonald started his first class career with 32 wickets in his first ten games in 2003–04.

[2] He was rewarded for his strong domestic form by being named in the Australian 30-man preliminary squad for the 2007 World Cup.

[3] He was also named in the Australian preliminary squads for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and a 7 match ODI series tour of India.

During this innings, he was given a nasty bouncer by Morné Morkel, knocking his helmet off from behind and narrowly missing his leg-stump.

He did score 75 runs opening the batting in the second innings against Northamptonshire, as well as taking 4 for 15 to win the match for Australia.

He returned to Australia temporarily from the 2009 Ashes tour to be with his wife who was due to give birth to the couple's first child.

In October 2019, McDonald was appointed as assistant coach to Justin Langer with the Australia national cricket team.

[15] On 5 February 2022, with the resignation of Langer, McDonald was appointed interim head coach of the team.