Proteas target world domination

Johannesburg - Coach Gary Kirsten believes the Proteas have the ability to dominate world cricket, after arriving home from his first overseas tour with the national team.

"It was nice to go on tour and connect with all the players," Kirsten said after the South African squad arrived here on Wednesday following a successful six-week tour of New Zealand.

"We have new management, and some new players, and we were a long way from home, but we connected well as a unit.

"We've set ourselves some lofty standards, and we want to be the best team in world cricket, so we're very excited about where we're going."

South Africa outclassed their hosts after a wobbly start to their tour.

They bounced back from 1-0 down to secure a 2-1 win in the T20 series, followed by a 3-0 cleansweep in the ODI series, and a 1-0 victory in the three-match Test series.

Kirsten, who took over from caretaker coach Corrie van Zyl at the start of the season, was delighted with his team's efforts.

"I'm very happy with the tour. I think it was mission accomplished, certainly from what we wanted to achieve in all three formats," he said.

"New Zealand is not an easy place to tour, and we started with a loss [in the first T20 game], but we finished well in the Test series.

"We would have liked another win [they were stifled by rain in the last Test in Wellington] and we think we came out well from this series."

Test captain Graeme Smith was relieved to continue his fine form after missing the last two ODI matches with a forearm injury.

Having smashed his first ODI ton against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers in January, he shone again in the Test series against the Black Caps, with one hundred and two half-centuries.

"I'm starting to feel like my game is coming back to normal," Smith said.

"I'm starting to feel like I'm in control of it again, and that's good from my perspective."