SYDNEY (Reuters)
Australian captain Steve Waugh believes his side proved beyond any doubt they are the best Test team in world cricket with their 3-0 series clean sweep over South Africa.

"Coming into this series, we had a few things to prove. We believed we were still the best side and had played some pretty good cricket over the past couple of years and we wanted to continue that," Waugh told reporters on Saturday.

"It's hard to imagine us playing much better."

The three-match series had been billed as Test cricket's first official world championship, with South Africa, ranked second behind the Australians, poised to replace Waugh's side at the top of the standings if they won or even drew the series.

But the Australians retained their title by winning all three matches by massive margins to end any argument as to which was the better team.

"Beating South Africa 3-0 is a very good performance and probably on a par, if not better, than beating Pakistan 3-0 here a few years ago," Waugh said.

Under the ICC's complicated rankings system, the South Africans can still replace Australia as the No 1. side if they draw their upcoming three-match series at home.

But Waugh said his team's performances had proved his side was the best, no matter what the computer rankings said.

"We're not going over there to South Africa to draw the Test matches anyway, we want to win. But, if it happens, it happens," Waugh said. "In most people's eyes, I guess, if we've won 3-0 here and we draw over there, it's pretty obvious who the No. 1 side is.

"I suppose there's a points table to say we're not the No. 1 side if we draw the series but we can always change that pretty quickly by winning the next series."

The Australia captain would not be drawn on where his side rated among the greatest teams in history but said they deserved to be mentioned among the best.

"We're playing pretty exceptional cricket and I think people will look back in 10 years' time and say it wasn't a bad side this one," he said. "We play aggressively, we try to play and win inside five days, we try and take the weather out of the equation, we try and only bat once.

"The standards we set ourselves aren't always going to be achieved but we want to set the bar high and try and get to that standard."

Australia won the first Test in Adelaide by 246 runs, the second in Melbourne by nine wickets and the final match in Sydney by 10 wickets to complete their first whitewash against South Africa in 70 years.

But, despite the one-sidedness of the series, Waugh refuted suggestions it had been easy. "It wasn't as if we were out there waltzing around and coming away with wins every time and not working very hard," Waugh said.

"Things weren't always going in our favour and we had to work really hard. The obvious goal is to keep winning Test matches. We won three here and we would like to win three in South Africa. We know it's a big ask but the side is capable of achieving anything we put our minds to."

Waugh also brushed off concerns about his own form after making just one half-century in the series. He said he had come into the series underdone after injuring himself on last year's Ashes tour of England but was confident of regaining his touch soon.

"It's certainly not my best season but, in a way, it's been even more satisfying to see others come through," Waugh said.

"I'm really looking forward to the one-dayers now to get some runs on the board. I don't want to be a player-captain that doesn't score runs. I'm not going to let this sort of form slump affect me and I want to score some runs in South Africa and be consistently scoring runs."

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