Ronan's rollercoaster ride back to first-class cricket

When the 'once in 100-year' flood event swept through Brisbane late last month, Queensland strength and conditioning coach Ronan McDonald moved some cricket gear out of his garage as it became inundated with water.

Among the items was his Queensland Bulls cap, which he'd earned nine years earlier when he debuted against Victoria at the MCG.

Little did he know he would need the maroon baggy less than a month later, with McDonald set to end a 3,292-day absence from first-class cricket if selected in the Bulls final XI to play Tasmania at Blundstone Arena this week.

"Not pre-empting anything but I went down and pulled (the cap) out and pulled a bit of gear out just in case because I didn't want it lost," he told cricket.com.au from Hobart today.

"It's always that you want to get back, but nine years it's probably not what I envisioned.

"It's been quite an interesting journey over those nine years so to be able to get the cap out of the cupboard again, which has been pretty good even just to get it out and go 'yeah, it's not put behind glass'."

The 29-year-old, who has forced his way back into the Queensland squad on the back of his past four seasons with Premier club Toombul (112 wickets at 26) and his seven wickets in the Toyota Second XI competition this summer, says the Bulls were waiting as late as possible to name their side for the match in Hobart, which starts on Wednesday.

But it wouldn't be out of the question for the Bulls to play four quicks on a Bellerive Oval surface that generally favours the seamers.

Image Id: 12575888913244CC958877DECB2BFC9C Image Caption: Ronan McDonald celebrates a wicket during his Big Bash debut in January // Getty

McDonald and 22-year-old fast bowler Blake Edwards have been added to the squad with Michael Neser (side strain) and Xavier Bartlett (back) ruled out through injury, and Mark Steketee with Australia’s Test squad in Pakistan.

McDonald also featured in this season's KFC BBL when he made his Big Bash debut against the Melbourne Renegades, collecting 1-21 as one of 13 replacement players called upon by the Brisbane Heat following a COVID-19 outbreak.

He has spent the past 18 months employed by Queensland Cricket as a strength and conditioning coach, which he said has allowed him to still be involved as an athlete.

"We've balanced it pretty well – there's times where there is some lines you have to set between athlete and coach, especially if you need some guys doing some physical work," he said.

"It doesn't work without the boys being really respectful for my journey and what I'm trying to do.

"They know that everything I'm prescribing, I'm pretty much doing as well in the background.

"It's been a bonus of both things – strength and conditioning wise I'm getting experience but also as an athlete I'm preparing at a higher level. I think they've complemented each other quite well."

The right-armer was 20 when he opened the bowling in February 2013 against current Victoria coach and 25-Test veteran Chris Rogers, who made 101 as the Vics racked up 9(dec)-536 in their first innings with Michael Hill and Cameron White also hitting centuries.

Three weeks later – the last of his two first-class matches to date – McDonald bowled alongside Australia representatives Ryan Harris, Neser, James Hopes and Nathan Hauritz as the Bulls rebounded to beat Western Australia by 120 runs.

"It was definitely a rude introduction to first-class cricket – you don't forget your debut and you definitely don't forget a debut when you spend two-and-a-half days in the field," McDonald said.

"It's such a long time ago and I look back on it with very fond memories and just go, 'jeez they're some good cricketers and I played with some great people'.

"Even looking back now, Queensland Cricket put up an interview I did about playing with Ryan Harris and now I'm actually working with Ryan in the Queensland Pathways program.

"Hopefully I get to pull another cap out. It'd be really nice to have the bracket look like 10 years rather than two games."

In the time since his last Sheffield Shield appearance, McDonald – the son of sheep farmers from St George in southwest Queensland – ruptured his pectoralis muscle, which took him 18-24 months to recover from, and was delisted following the 2014-15 season.

"There's plenty of times for the last couple of years the guys are going 'oh, are you retiring or what are you doing?'," he says.

"For me, I'll keep playing cricket as long as I can. I enjoy the game, the camaraderie and the clubmanship.

"Having been delisted as well gives you the perspective, resources and tools to overcome some adversity.

"The journey back hasn't been (about) ‘I'm doing everything possible to get back to first-class cricket’. It's more understanding my game and what I actually want to do.

"It wasn't like a sacrificed everything to get back. It was more of a maturing and understanding that I just wanted to be the best cricketer that I could be whatever level that was. If that was at Toombul, then that was at Toombul.

"It's just now that I've found some form, luckily I've had some reward coming through playing more Second XI cricket … and it's pieced together quite nicely at the moment."

During the COVID pandemic, McDonald spent three months at home with his family, the longest he had spent in St George since he moved away to boarding school aged 12.

"I got working back on the property … my two brothers are at home now working out there," he says.

"Plenty of sheep work and I reckon we did about 20km of fencing in that time, so I definitely got familiar with a sledgehammer and barbed wire.

"It was a really nice period to get back and touch base with my roots and I think that's been a big part of how settled I feel at the moment.

Image Id: B5034E1CDFB5496FA7C2D6C4EDE9815E Image Caption: Ronan McDonald bowls during his first-class debut at the MCG in February 2013 // Getty

"Graduating university was a big one, getting myself established into work … that's (also) been a big advantage to get everything settled. I can focus on what I need to do playing my cricket."

Queensland go into this week's match with a "slim chance" of making the Sheffield Shield final beginning on March 31; they need Victoria to beat or draw with WA, and South Australia to beat or draw with NSW to have any hope.

"Obviously, we'd like to be defending that title from last year but I think everyone's got a good perspective of what this week is and every game is an opportunity to press forward," McDonald says.

"This group is transitioning in lots of ways – we've got more Australian players, Uzzie's (Usman Khawaja) back performing, Ness (Neser) has been up at Test level, Stekkers (Steketee) is on tour, Sweppo (Mitch Swepson) has debuted – it's a good opportunity for some of these guys to cement the home base and then really dominate from there when we're full strength."

Tasmania also have several key outs for the last match of the regular season, with Riley Meredith and Matthew Wade to miss the clash due to Indian Premier League commitments.

Peter Siddle is being rested and Nathan Ellis and Ben McDermott are with the Australian squad as they depart for the white-ball leg of the Pakistan tour, while Jarrod Freeman, Lawrence Neil-Smith and Charlie Wakim are injured.

Queensland squad: Jimmy Peirson (c), James Bazley, Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Jack Clayton, Blake Edwards, Matthew Kuhnemann, Ronan McDonald, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Bryce Street, Sam Truloff, Jack Wildermuth

Tasmania squad: Tom Andrews, Gabe Bell, Jackson Bird, Jake Doran (wk), Brad Hope, Caleb Jewell, Ben Manenti, Sam Rainbird, Jordan Silk, Tim Ward, Beau Webster (c), Mac Wright