South Africa has reappointed Graeme Smith as captain for another year despite his team suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka in the final decider of VB series in Hobart on Tuesday.

South African cricket CEO, Gerald Majola, announced Smith's re-appointment while releasing a statement on the renewal of the contracts for another one year of Smith and 12 other South African players.

The others players are: Mark Boucher, A B de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Ka llis, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, and Jacques Rudolph.

"We have seen that Graeme has outstanding leadership qualities, and we believe he has the talent and determination to come out of this batting slump. Cricket South Africa had no hesitation in confirming our confidence in him as captain and opening batsman," Majola said.

Meanwhile, Smith has been quoted in Australia as saying that the hosts would face a tough assignment when they tour South Africa later this month for one-day and Test series.

The South African Press Association(SAPA) has quoted Smith as saying that they were looking forward to returning home and turning things around against Australia.

"Our excuse is that we've just really been terrible at our basics so far. We have got a lot of young guys playing the best team in the world in their own backyard and they probably realise now that they've got to do a lot of improving at their levels to match up at this level," Smith said.