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Cape Town - The International Cricket Council (ICC) will present the ICC Test Championship Mace to India captain Virat Kohli at the Newlands on Saturday at the conclusion of their South Africa tour.
On behalf of the ICC, ICC Cricket Hall of Famers Sunil Gavaskar of India and Graeme Pollock of South Africa will make the presentation immediately after the awards ceremony for the T20I series.
India have ensured the No 1 spot on the ICC Test Team Rankings and a prize of $1 million (R11.55m) after their victory in the Johannesburg Test against South Africa last month ensured that no team can move ahead of them in the Test rankings at the April 3, 2018 cut-off date.
The Mace was produced by the then British Crown Jeweller, Asprey & Garrard, in 2001, which was commissioned to make a distinctive prize designed to stand out from other cricket trophies.
The designers produced a 90cm silver and gold-plated trophy based on a cricket stump as its shank, topped by an orb that represents the cricket world - both geographically and through the inclusion of the emblems of all 10 ICC Members that have played Test cricket.
The stump and the orb combine to portray the Mace, regarded as a symbol of authority and prestige. This is regarded as an appropriate combination given the rich history of Test cricket and its image as the most traditional and purest form of the game.
The Mace sits on a wooden base with a silver-plated plaque in front with room for engravings of the sides to hold it.
The Mace was valued at £30 000 in 2001 and automatically passes from one team to another as results confirm a change of leadership in the ICC Test Team Rankings table.
