Captain AB de Villiers acknowledged a testing victory over Canterbury and insisted South Africa had plenty of hard yards to put in ahead of Friday's first T20I against New Zealand.

Richard Levi's blitz and Lonwabo Tsotsobe's four-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, were at the forefront of an otherwise ropey performance by the hosts, who ultimately triumphed by 20 runs.

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.

Levi's half-century and 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.

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.

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.

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

"This was exactly what we needed. We needed a competitive challenge and all the credit to Canterbury's batsmen for fighting the way they did towards the end. It's great for us to start the tour off on a winning note but we know that there is still a lot of work for us to do come Friday for the first International T20 against New Zealand," said de Villiers.

"Lonwabo has just been outstanding. I don't know how he does it so consistently, he just keeps taking wickets. It's encouraging to see his early tour form and hopefully he continues to excel throughout the tour."

The right-handed Levi, sure to open the batting 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 McCone to all corners of the arena.

"Richard is a phenomenal batsman, he is an impact player and it is very exciting for us to have a player of his calibre at the top of the order. Most of the batsmen did have some sort of a feel of the conditions and hopefully the little bit that they experienced will help going into Friday's match," concluded de Villiers.