Proteas remain at the summit of test rankings

Sport, arts and culture

The South African cricket team has retained its number one spot on the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings after a three test series victory over Pakistan.

Before the win against Pakistan in February, the Proteas had also won a home series against New Zealand.

The three-nil series victory over Pakistan means the Proteas cannot be overtaken by their closest rivals England, Australia and India in the rankings until the beginning of the Champions Trophy.

The team entered the Pakistani series on 124 ratings points and needed only to draw the series to retain the number one test spot.

The Proteas will not only retain the prestigious Test Championship title but will also earn nearly R4 million for their achievement.

Cricket South Africa acting CEO Jacques Faul congratulated the Proteas squad on their clean-sweep of the test series against Pakistan.

“It is difficult to find new words to describe the way the Proteas have been playing. There probably aren’t any more superlatives left in the dictionary to acknowledge both their brilliance and their consistency,” he said.

The Proteas will now set their sights on the Championship Trophy tournament to be held in England and Wales.

They will compete against seven other teams, who with South Africa make up the top eight on the ICC One Day Inter- national rankings.

The tournament will start on 6 June and teams will be divided into two groups of four.

The Proteas will battle world champions India on 6 June, followed by a match against Pakistan on 10 June and the last group match against the T20 champions West Indies on 14 June.