England's innings got off to the worst possible start, with the tourists struggling for 34/2 in their first innings at dinner, trailing Australia by 269 runs on Day 2.
Donald, who took 330 wickets in 72 Tests and 272 wickets in 164 ODIs for South Africa, also expressed surprise over the manner in which England lost the 2021/22 Ashes in Australia.
Brought into the Australia squad as a replacement after a two-and-a-half-year absence, Usman Khawaja is set to open the innings in the fifth and final Test of the Ashes series against England at the expense of opener Marcus Harris.
Australia have retained the Ashes since winning it in England in 2015. They won the multi-format series 12-2 in England in 2019 and the 2017 home series was drawn at 8-8.
Khawaja has emerged as the fifth-highest run-scorer in the series despite playing just one Test.
Former England skipper Michael Atherton has been a vocal critic of the ECB for allowing players to play in the IPL at the expense of national duty.
Australian pace bowling stalwart Mitchell Starc doesn't want to be rested for the fifth and final Ashes Test to be played at the Blundstone Arena here from January 14, saying he wants to play his part in the historic game.
Cummins, the first Australian fast bowler to lead a Test side, said his approach to leadership is quite similar to England's Eoin Morgan.
Paine, who took an indefinite break from all forms of cricket days after he stepped down as the Australian Test captain in the wake of the scandal, has never played the longest format of the game at his home ground.
The Victorian pace bowler of Indigenous origin has taken 14 wickets in two Tests at an average of 8.64 apiece.