Calcutta: Allan Donald, till recently South Africa's bowling coach, picked his top-five quicks for the benefit of The Telegraph's readers.

One of the fast bowling greats (330 wickets in Tests, 272 in ODIs), Donald, now 48, is the Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowling coach.

Excerpts...

Alphabetically, who'd figure in your list...

TRENT BOULT (New Zealand): Boult is one swing bowler who has come to the fore in the past 12 months or so. Dangerous with the new ball, he's simply outstanding. Clearly, one of the best new-ball bowlers in the business and he had such a good World Cup.

• Boult, 25, is with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

MITCHELL JOHNSON (Australia): Johnson is always going to take wickets and will always have an impact on the game. Today, he's not the lead bowler for Australia, but he hasn't lost that X factor. Not yet.

•  Johnson, 33, is with the Kings XI Punjab.

MORNE MORKEL (South Africa): Whatever I say about Morkel won't be enough, for he's been brilliant over the past 20-24 months. He's certainly been South Africa's best in this period. That may not always have been reflected in the wickets column, but the work he's done has been nothing short of phenomenal. Really, he's stitched together another character and has become more aggressive.

• Morkel, 30, is with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

MITCHELL STARC (Australia): Being mentally strong and having the right attitude has much to do with being successful at the highest level. Starc has the right qualities and his graph, over the past year, has gone up and up. To be adjudged the Player of the World Cup came as the icing on the cake. Look, it's a massive plus when you have control at such high pace.

• Starc, 25, is with the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

DALE STEYN (South Africa): Steyn has always been the go-to man for South Africa. His consistency and strike-rate have, over the years, been exceptional. He would have liked to have had a better World Cup, but you can't take his achievements away.

• Steyn, 31, is with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Finally, on India's new-ball attack...

If I'm to talk about the World Cup, India's bowling group was pretty phenomenal. The style of bowling has changed over the last couple of years. In fact, against us, at the MCG, the Indian quicks were fast and aggressive. You need to be aggressive, particularly in the first 10 overs. If you aren't, you'll be found wanting.