The win also meant that Proteas dented Sri Lanka's hopes of making it to the semis at the showpiece event. South Africa put in a clinical performance with bat and bowl to outplay the Islanders. However, there was a moment of brilliance by the Lankans coming from their old war horse Lasith Malinga who once again produced a breathtaking delivery to take his team's lone wicket.
Chasing a below par total of 204, South African openers Quinton De Cock and Hashim Amla got their team off to a breezy start and looked quite well settled on the crease till the end of the fourth over.
However, Sri Lankan seamer Lasith Mallinga broke the Proteas resistance by clean bowling De Cock with a pin point yorker in the penultimate delivery of the fifth over.
De Kock who is not having the best of forms with the bat was found wanting against Malinga's potent delivery which swung late and ripped through the defences of the southpaw. Before De Kock could get his bat down, the red cherry has dismantled the timber and Sri Lanka had their opening breakthrough.
After South African skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field first, his bowlers bundled out Sri Lanka for a paltry 203 in 49.3 overs.
Top-order batsmen in Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando both scored 30 each, leading the run scoring charts for the their team in this match. With bowling figures of 10-0-25-3, South Africa all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius was the pick of the bowlers for South Africa.