South African cricket has taken big strides over the past 12 months, including moving into top spot in ODIs, and Greame Smith has said he wants to cap that with a win in the World Twenty20.

Smith's side are among the favourites for the title, and their limited-overs prowess is illustrated by their record of only one ODI-series loss in nearly two years. They have also won their previous two Twenty20s, beating Australia twice in March.

"We have had a wonderful past 12 months which has included winning away Test series in both England and Australia and winning home-and-away ODI series against Australia to gain top spot in the ICC rankings," PA quoted him as saying.

"One of the boxes we still want to tick is to win a major ICC championship and we have two chances to do that in the ICC World T20 next month and again in the ICC Champions Trophy which will be held in South Africa at the end of September."

Twelve of his 15-member squad played for various franchises in the IPL which ended earlier this month, and Smith said it helped warm them up for the World Twenty20. "I have been very happy with the form our players have shown in the IPL in the run-up to the World T20 and this augurs well for a good performance."

South Africa open the tournament in Group D, along with New Zealand and Scotland. They play their first warm-up game against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on June 1 and take on Sri Lanka in another practice match at Lord's on June 3, before heading over to the Oval for their first match of the tournament against Scotland on June 7.