The swings and roundabouts of 2011

The big guns of South African sport failed to fire in the heat of battle, but 2011 delivered some unexpected highlights.

With the Proteas choking again at a Cricket World Cup, the Springboks undone by a New Zealand referee at the Rugby World Cup and three of our football teams plummeting to new depths, a bunch of women and a golfer saved our sport from completely going down the drain.

South Africa found world champions in three women: a boxer, a surfer and a canoeist.

Noni Tenge of East London became the first South African woman to hold a world boxing title. She beat Daniella Smith of New Zealand for the IBF welterweight belt.

Bianca Buitendag, 17, won the world junior surfing title in Australia, and Hillary Pitchford of Maritzburg became canoeing's world marathon champion.

Just so the men did not feel completely left out, Charl Schwartzel's victory at the US Masters golf in Augusta was the first South African triumph at the iconic tournament since Gary Player won it in 1978.

Schwartzel overhauled Rory McIlroy, who held a four-shot lead going into the final round and held off two Aussies, Jason Day and Adam Scott, to win.

But, mostly, it was the women.

Banyana Banyana, the contrived nickname for South Africa's female footballers, qualified for next year's Olympics. Their male equivalents failed. Banyana striker Nompumelelo Nyandeni, was nominated for the African Football Confederation's woman player of the year award.

There were to be no such awards for the men. Bafana Bafana embarrassed themselves and the nation by celebrating a goalless draw against Sierra Leone in Nelspruit, believing they had qualified for the Nations Cup in January next year. Then they discovered that no one had read the rules properly and that their party had actually been spoiled by Niger, who pipped them at the post.

As if that humiliation was not enough, the male Olympic hopefuls finished bottom of the log in the final qualifying tournament for London 2012 and the under-20 team, Amajita, did even worse.

Given home ground advantage for the World Youth Cup qualifiers after original hosts, Libya, imploded, Amajita could not make it past the post. They also ended the year being bundled out of the Cosafa Cup, beaten 5-1 by Zambia in the first round.

At least there was another woman to make us proud. Hockey super striker Pietie Coetzee showed her class by breaking the world record of 220 international goals. She set the new mark with a first-half hat-trick and a fourth goal in the second half in a 5-5 draw against the US in Dublin.

Coetzee is now favoured to be named world hockey player of the year at the awards ceremony early next year.

Our cricketers started off the year failing to win a home series against India and ended it failing to win another, against Australia.

As the year began to draw to a close, South Africa won an extraordinary test against the Aussies at Newlands, becoming the first team in more than 100 years to make fewer than 100 in the first innings and still go on to win the match. But they lost the next game and, as against India earlier in the year, shared the series 1-1.

South African cricket said farewell to one of its pioneers, Makhaya Ntini. The official, if gratuitous, farewell for Ntini ends disastrously.

At a much-hyped T20 international between South Africa and India at the 2010 World Cup stadium in Durban, the former fast bowler went for 46 runs off only four overs and took no wickets. But the crowd, about 35000 and the biggest to watch a game in South Africa, gave him a warm send-off. India, however, won by 21 runs.

At the Cricket World Cup, the Proteas again fell short. Looking like title contenders in the first few games, they fell to New Zealand in the quarterfinals.

But worse was to come. The chief executive of Cricket South Africa, Gerald Majola, had been found to have paid himself a bonus of almost R2-million without authorisation. Instead of resigning, the organisation's board forced out the man who had accused him, Mtutuzeli Nyoka.

A High Court judge, however, ruled that it had been unconstitutional and Nyoka was reinstated, only to be ousted again a few months later. The matter is currently under investigation by another former judge.

He was not the only sports administrator to be kicked out. Leonard Chuene, the controversial athletics boss, was dismissed after being found guilty of financial corruption and mishandling the gender case of world 800m champion Caster Semenya.

On the tennis courts, Kevin Anderson won the South African Open, the first local to do so since Christo van Rensburg in 1989. But the future Open is uncertain because of changes to the ATP world schedule.

The Springboks had an erratic year, losing 14-9 to the Wallabies in a Tri-Nations match in Durban. It was also the first time in 11 years that they were unable to score a try against Australia in South Africa. Then they hit back the next week to beat the All Blacks 18-5 in Port Elizabeth, but for the second test in a row they failed to score a try.

They scrambled to a 17-16 win over Wales in their first game at the Rugby World Cup then looked unbeatable against Fiji.

At least we beat the Aussies in one sport this year. South Africa's lacrosse team won the World Cup held in Warwickshire, England, going undefeated against Ireland, the US, Britain and, in the final, Australia.