Steve Waugh has praised the current Australian attack ahead of their Test series against South Africa, beginning at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.

Waugh went as far as to say the quartet of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon were potentially an ‘all-time great attack’.

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Waugh said this despite playing alongside the likes of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Shane Warne.

‘Australia’s attack is potentially an all-time great attack,’ Waugh said. ‘The three quicks – Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood – and Nathan Lyon are as good as any attack right now or in any previous era. They’re only going to get better.’

Waugh added that if the four remained fit at all times, Australia would be very hard to beat.

‘But if you get a couple of injuries and you take one or two of those bowlers out, it’s a different story. But right now I think our attack is the best in world cricket.’

With both South Africa and Australia boasting strong bowling attacks, Waugh said he felt the series would be decided by the batsmen.

‘These are two of the best bowling attacks in the world coming together. It’s up to the batters … whichever batting unit performs better will win the series because both bowling attacks are pretty potent and capable of taking 20 wickets.’

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