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Johannesburg, Oct 1: Hosts South Africa will play West Indies in the opening game of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, it was announced Monday.

Tournament executive director Ali Bacher said the day/night match would be staged at Newlands in Cape Town in the first week of February.

Bacher said the opening game had been decided after the pools for the tournament were finalised, based on the world one-day rankings at the cut-off date of Sept 30.

South Africa were always going to play in the opening game and the local organising committee decided West Indies were the biggest drawcard among the teams in South Africa's group.

South Africa, second in the world rankings, is in the same pool as Sri Lanka (third), West Indies (sixth), New Zealand (seventh), Bangladesh and Kenya (joint tenth) and Canada - who finished third in the recent International Cricket Council Trophy tournament in Toronto, Canada.

Australia, the defending champions and current top-ranked team, will play alongside Pakistan, India, England, Zimbabwe, Netherlands and Namibia.

The final rankings, based on games from the end of the 1999 World Cup up to matches played up to Sept 30, 2001 were: 1. Australia, 2. South Africa, 3. Sri Lanka, 4. Pakistan, 5. India, 6. West Indies, 7. New Zealand, 8. England, 9. Zimbabwe, 10. Bangladesh and Kenya.

Netherlands won the ICC Trophy and Namibia were runners-up to qualify for the World Cup in 12th and 13th places.

Dr Bacher said in a press release that West Indies had been chosen for the World Cup curtain raiser because of the "tremendous impact" they had made on international cricket.

"South African cricket has long admired and respected the incredible contribution that the West Indies have made to the international game through the uniqueness of their cricket and their great players," he said.

President of West Indies Cricket Board of Control (WICB) Wes Hall responded from Antigua: "This is indeed a great honour for the people of the West Indies. "It further emphasizes the close ties that have existed between our two countries since South Africa re-entered international cricket with the inaugural Test match in Barbados in 1992.

"We are not currently in the top three of international cricket but... by 2003, this West Indies team will be right on song."

The event's match dates will be published on Oct 27. Some changes have been made to the original schedule to fit in with television programming, according to Bacher.

The opening game was set for Feb 6 but could be moved forward a day or two. The final, provisionally scheduled for March 18 or 19 at The Wanderers ground in Johannesburg, is also set to be moved forward.

He said this decision was made last week at a meeting of the Global Cricket Corporation, representing television rights holders, the International Cricket Council and the 2003 World Cup policy committee.

"It was decided that the final should be played over a weekend to maximise a gloabl television audience," said Bacher. "So the final will now be played on either Saturday March 15 or Sunday March 16."

The decision will mean that the tournament will be played in fewer than the 42 days originally scheduled. "It could be contested over 39 or 40 days," said Bacher.

Meanwhile, England coach Duncan Fletcher has played down the difficulty of the draw for the 2003 World Cup.

"At this stage it looks to be the slightly more difficult of the two groups," Fletcher said during England's opening match of their tour to Zimbabwe against Zimbabwe 'A' in Harare. "But a lot can change in cricket over 18 months and we are looking to build a squad in that time that can compete against the world's best."

England failed to reach the second phase of the 1999 World Cup and are currently on an 11-match losing streak in one-day international cricket.

© Dawn