Cape Town: Host South Africa received a morale-booster ahead of the World Cup when it was officially crowned the champion to Test cricket on Friday. South Africa displaced Australia at the top of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test match table following its 2-0 rout of Pakistan in a home series last month. ICC president Malcolm Gray presented a trophy to South African captain Shaun Pollock at a brief ceremony where the host takes on the West Indies in the World Cup opener on Sunday. Pollock said the honour was well deserved and recognised the rise of the South African team over the years. "Australians are a very good Test side and I'm sure they won't be happy about the fact that they are not rated number one any more," Pollock said. "Over the last four years, we have played very well and beaten Pakistan, India and the West Indies away and drawn in Sri Lanka. "All these things contributed to this Test championship trophy." South Africa overtook Australia in the rankings despite the Ashes triumph for Steve Waugh's men.
 Copyright AFP 2001
Tags: cricket, world cup 2003, cape town, south africa, test cricket, international cricket council (icc), pakistan, malcolm gray, shaun pollock, australia, ashes, steve waugh.
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