ANDREW McDONALD was packing surfboards for the waves of Victoria's Ocean Grove and nutting out plans with mates for New Year's Eve when his life changed.

The phone rang and he was asked to unpack the boards and pack a bag for Sydney. He had been picked to play for Australia.

"I was shocked and over the moon and just really excited about the prospect of being able to play for Australia in Sydney," he said. "It really was [from] left field. I feel confident in my ability. Obviously to have been performing for Victoria - I think we are probably the benchmark of the domestic competition at the moment - and I think that is going to hold me in good stead …

" I have batted in the top five and six in Shield cricket and I think that is going to hold me in good stead if I do get the No.6 spot for Australia or wherever that position may arise."

The 27-year-old all-rounder - born in Wodonga before growing up in Albury, and nicknamed "Ronnie" thanks to his surname and red hair - has been drafted into the national squad to replace the injured all-rounder pair of Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson.

Having played junior representative cricket in NSW, including for the state under-17 side, he was introduced to district cricket in Victoria by North Melbourne while still a teenager.

He is the third Victorian player in the past year - after Peter Siddle and Cameron White - to emerge from the Victorian Institute of Sport, scrapped partly for not developing enough players worthy of the national team.

McDonald, who has played in the Australian under-19 side, arrived in district cricket as a batsman who could bowl a bit, but he rapidly developed his bowling skills. He bats at five or six for Victoria and is an upright, correct right-handed bat.

He bowls first change for the Bushrangers and he presents initially as a medium pacer but at 194 centimetres tall he can obtain an alarming bounce. With a capacity for genuine swing and movement off the pitch, he varies his pace cleverly to be a very difficult foe.