Speculation that South Africa might lose the right to host the 2003 World Cup as a result of the country siding with India in the Mike Denness affair is groundless, a top United Cricket Board official said on Friday.

South Africa and India have defied the International Cricket Council by appointing their own match referee for what has now become an unofficial "Test" match between the two countries at SuperSport Park, but the UCB believes that few, if any, sanctions will be taken against the home country.

In fact, said United Cricket Board Communications Director Bronwyn Wilkinson, South Africa will be awarded the third Test match with India deemed to have forfeited the game. "This means that South Africa will have won the series 2-0 as for as the Test championship table is concerned," said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson said that the UCB had been in constant touch with the ICC as the controversy unfolded. "We asked the ICC what the consequences of our staging an unofficial match would be and the reply was that India would be deemed to have forfeited the match," she said. "There has been no mention of any sanctions against South Africa and the World Cup is not in danger. We have spoken to (ICC president) Malcolm Gray and (ICC chief executive) Malcolm Speed on numerous occasions over the past two days and we would not have decided on our course of action if there was any threat to an event like the World Cup."

Because the match will not be official, the statistics from the game will not be reflected in the players' career records.

© CricInfo