London: South Africa made heavy weather of chasing down Sri Lanka's disappointing total of 109 for 9 in their final warm-up match at Lord's ahead of next week's ICC World Twenty20, but they eventually eased home with five balls and six wickets to spare, thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 70 between Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers.
Having been drawn in the toughest group, alongside West Indies and Australia (whom they face in their opening fixture at Trent Bridge on Monday), Sri Lanka will need to raise their game considerably if they hope to progress in the competition.
Earlier, Sri Lanka had struggled to 109-9 after being reduced to 44 for 7 at one stage with Angelo Mathews (28) and Nuwan Kulasekera (24) rallying in the closing over with valuable late runs.
Dale Steyn, who removed both openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis and Johan Botha all collected two wickets each.
South Africa reached their target with five balls to spare thanks to Gibbs and AB de Villiers (32) who put on 70 for the third wicket.
Brief Score: South Africa 113 for 4 (Gibbs 48) beat Sri Lanka 109 for 9 (Botha 2-9, Kallis 2-12).