Lonwabo Tsotsobe's hat-trick and a swashbuckling half-century from Richard Levi were enough for South Africa to beat Canterbury in their Twenty20 tour match.

The tourists first and only warm-up fixture ahead of Friday's first T20I against New Zealand also served as a fundraiser for victims of last year's Christchurch earthquake victims, with a near capacity crowd squeezed into Hagley Oval on Wednesday.

Batting first against an inexperienced home XI sporting five Twenty20 debutants, the Proteas would have wanted better than the final 150 for six they posted, particularly after Levi and Hashim Amla's 81-run alliance inside the first nine overs of the match.

The right-handed Levi, sure to open the batting come Friday's series opener against the Black Caps now that Graeme Smith is out of the T20I picture, orchestrated a quickfire 63 from just 32 balls in his first outing for the Proteas. Striking 10 fours and three sixes, the talented 24-year-old carted seamers Logan van Beek and Ryan McCone to all corners of the arena.

Levi's half-century and Hashim Amla's measured 35 aside, the rest of the tourists' batting order was shoddy. Colin Ingram, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy and Justin Ontong managed a mere 38 runs between them. Left-arm spinner George Worker, meanwhile, did his hopes of an eventual senior call-up a great favour with figures of three for 23, including the key scalp of Levi.

Canterbury's reply was quickly rattled by Tsotsobe as the left-arm seamer snared the scalps of Worker and Peter Fulton with the last two balls of his first over and then removed Shanan Stewart with the opening delivery of his second over to clinch the hat-trick.

At 63 for seven, the hosts' chase seemed very much dead and buried, only for Matt McEwan and Matt Henry to resurrect the pursuit. The duo collectively clobbered 59 runs in just 5.1 overs to have South Africa momentarily worrying about a potential upset. When Henry, who eventually finished with 42 from just 17 balls, launched Rusty Theron for back-to-back sixes, the contest was truly sparked to life.

However, Morne Morkel sealed the deal for the Proteas in the next over, getting rid of Henry thanks to a superb catch by captain and wicketkeeper de Villiers, who knew full well the value of the wicket.

Tail-enders Tim Johnston and McCone were never going to repeat Henry's theatrics, with Theron ultimately capping a 20-run win for the visitors with the wicket of McEwan.

While the individual performances of Levi and Tsotsobe were the highlights of the Proteas' performance, a general lack of ruthlessness among the rest didn't bode well for a team looking to trump a New Zealand unit two spots higher than them in the Twenty20 rankings come their three-match series.