Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola lavished praise on Graeme Smith and his side after they moved to the top of the one-day world rankings.

The Proteas' series whitewash in Bangladesh was enough to topple Australia and become the world's top team in the 50-over game.

Smith came in for criticism from Ray Jennings earlier in the week, the former South Africa coach suggesting there were "better guys" to do the job of captain.

But Majola was unequivocal in his praise of the 27-year-old, who passed 5,000 runs in both forms of the game on the tour as well as setting a new world record for an opening partnership alongside Neil McKenzie.

"The Proteas achievement in winning the Bangladesh ODI and Test series on top of doing the same against Pakistan recently is one of the best achievements by a non-subcontinent team," he commented.

"The individual highlights have been numerous, but standing above them all has been the performance of Graeme Smith, both as a captain and as a batsman.

"Graeme has led from the front from the start and the team followed him all the way.

"CSA has confidence that this outfit will continue on its winning ways and win the sub-continent treble by beating India later this month.

"As things stand now, Graeme and his team are the best ODI side in the world and are looking to clinch their spot as the second best Test squad.

"This is a remarkable achievement, considering that the team has been on the subcontinent for an extended period, and it shows that South African cricket now has both fortitude and variety."