South Africa great ALLAN DONALD hails Proteas’ awesome foursome after demolishing England at Lord’s

Calling the South Africa pace quartet who demolished England at Lord’s the best in history is a big call. But one former Proteas great believes it is not so outlandish — and could well prove to be spot-on.

Allan Donald was known as White Lightning during his playing days and was one of the fastest bowlers of his generation, regularly hitting speeds of more than 90mph.

England were on the receiving end of some of his quickest spells during the 1990s, when he spearheaded a South Africa line-up capable of mixing it with the best. He lined up alongside the likes of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis to form a formidable attack.

South Africa great Donald claims they could even be the best bowling quartet ever

But Donald believes his country’s current generation of pace bowlers have taken things to the next level. The performances of Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen at Lord’s announced the awesome foursome to the English audience and blew away batting that had been on a Bazball-inspired roll.

Donald admits he had never seen anything like it. ‘They produced, didn’t they!’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘I didn’t expect the game to be done midway through the third day, that’s for sure. I’m very proud of those youngsters, the way they stood up, it was a great performance.

‘Someone asked me if they were the greatest pace quartet in history and I would say without a shadow of doubt that they are up there.

‘There’s still a young kid, Gerald Coetzee, sitting on the sidelines as well. He will get his chance in due course. He’s a very exciting bowler capable of getting up to 150kph (93mph). But there’s no doubt about it — this is a gun attack.’

They were too much for England, who crumbled to scores of 165 and 149 as South Africa romped to victory by an innings and 12 runs at Lord’s.

Given South Africa’s record at the Home of Cricket, that should come as no surprise. Donald was a member of the side who walloped England in their first Test here after the end of their isolation in 1994.

Donald was known as White Lightning during his playing days and was one of the fastest bowlers of his generation

Now, with the teams heading to Old Trafford for today’s second Test, Donald believes the key will be to ensure there is no anti-climax.

‘When you leave Lord’s and go to another ground, that comedown from picking yourself up and doing so well is something you have to be careful of,’ he says. ‘The thing South Africa have to guard against is that England are different away from Lord’s.

‘South Africa have only lost once at Lord’s (post isolation) and that’s because it’s an inspiring place. Everyone wants to play there — the history takes you on a journey for a week.

‘The comedown can bite you. There’s no doubt Brendon McCullum and his crew will come up with something quite different. The talk of the town will be how you combat this South Africa attack and its aggression.

‘England knew South Africa’s attack would come at them and come at them with some venom. That’s exactly what we saw in that first Test.

South Africa were too much for England, who crumbled to scores of 165 and 149 as the visitors romped to victory by an innings and 12 runs at Lord’s

Anrich Nortje celebrates with Marco Jansen after taking the wicket of England’s Ben Foakes

‘I’m super proud. It’s a great bowling attack. We had been saying for weeks in the build-up that this attack was going to be a different proposition for England. They’ve now laid down the marker for the rest of the series.’

Donald knows what it is like to try to win a Test in Manchester, where he was thwarted by one of the best rearguard efforts in English cricket history in 1998.

Following contributions from Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton — who had a memorable battle with Donald all series — Robert Croft, Angus Fraser and Darren Gough held South Africa at bay for 171 balls to save the game.

England would go on to come from behind and win that series 2-1, their first five-Test series win since the 1986-87 Ashes.

‘That’s as tired as I’ve ever been on a cricket field,’ Donald says. ‘I felt we batted too slowly in getting to 552 for five declared in the first innings (from 200 overs). We bowled England out really cheaply and then what happened after was the hardest work I’ve ever been involved in.

South Africa’s Lungi Ngidi (centre) also starred in dismantling England in the first Test

‘I bowled 40 second-innings overs and when Hansie Cronje threw me the third new ball deep on the last afternoon, the words were, “I don’t want to hear anything — just go and do the job”.

‘We should have put England away and if we had we would have won the series. But the momentum swing at Old Trafford really did for us.

‘Gus Fraser was just lunging at every ball I bowled. He threw everything in front of every ball. It was an opportunity missed.’

There is a fresh opportunity this week for South Africa to blow England away and seal the series.

And Donald will be hoping lightning does not strike twice.