1932 — Danie Craven and Bennie Osler, among South Africa’s most famous halfback combinations, each score a try as the Springboks down Scotland 6-3 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. The home side had led at the break after a try by flyhalf Harry Lind. Osler’s try saw him overtake Dougie Morkel as the highest Test points-scorer for South Africa. Morkel’s mark of 38 had stood since 1913.
1961 — Beverley Lang scores 58 as the South African women reach stumps on 126/4 to draw the fourth and final Test against England at Newlands, still 67 runs short of victory.
1981 — Graeme Pope-Ellis wins his first Dusi Canoe Marathon crown in a single kayak to claim his ninth title overall. It was the first year that women were allowed to compete, but only if they were accompanied by men in mixed doubles. Husband and wife Andre and Daphne Hawarden were the first mixed crew home, finishing 16th overall. That year’s edition also saw its first black entrant, Simon Mkhize.
1993 — Steve Komphela captains the South African soccer team to a goalless draw against Nigeria in a World Cup qualifying match at FNB Stadium. It was a great turn-around after their 0-4 drubbing by hosts Nigeria a few months earlier.
1994 — Gary Kirsten scores 55 as the Proteas, on 208/7, beat Australia by 82 runs in a triangular series ODI in Perth. Richard Snell took 3/26.
1998 — Jacques Kallis scores 111 as the Proteas, on 233/7, destroy New Zealand by 67 runs in a triangular series ODI in Perth. Shaun Pollock took 3/28 and Kallis 2/26.
1999 — Alfie Cox, riding a KTM, becomes the first South African to make the Dakar Rally podium, finishing third overall in the motorcycle class. He had been fourth the previous year. Having struggled with an injured arm for most of the race, Cox moved into the medals on the final stage after third-placed Italian Fabrizio Meoni dropped out on the final day when his engine blew. Cox’s 59 hr 26 min 18 sec time for the 13 completed stages was less than one hour behind French victor Richard Sainct on a BMW. Only a third of the competitors that set out from Granada, Spain, reached Dakar. Among them was Vicus van Deventer, who retained his title in the experimental quad class on a Yamaha Banshee, though he was 37th overall in the motorcycle category. The North West farmer developed a reputation as a tough, individualistic competitor, riding with without any form of support. Van Deventer landed in Paris two days before the start and rode more than 1,700km in the cold and rain to the start, stopping only to refuel. He arrived in Spain after 17 hours, just in time to register. Van Deventer also had the reputation of being a little loskop, not thinking to bring Spanish currency with him.
1999 — Allan Donald takes 5/49 as South Africa bowl out the West Indies for 144 for a first-innings lead of 169 runs in the fifth Test at Centurion, with only two of the visiting batsmen making double figures.
2004 — Captain Graeme Smith scores 139 and Herschelle Gibbs an unbeaten 139 on the first day of the fourth and final Test at Centurion.
2008 — Sibusiso Zuma scores a late winner as Bafana Bafana beat Botswana 2-1 in a friendly at Chatsworth Stadium. Bryce Moon had scored first to put South Africa 1-0 up in the first half before Moemedi Moatlhaping equalised nine minutes after the break. This was Bafana’s last warm-up ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Ghana.
2009 — JP Duminy top-scores with 71 and Albie Morkel hammers an unbeaten 40 from 18 balls as the Proteas chase down the 272-run target with three balls remaining to beat Australia by three wickets in the opening ODI in Melbourne.
2015 — AB de Villiers scores 81 as the Proteas beat the West Indies by 61 runs on Duckworth-Lewis in the first ODI at Kingsmead. South Africa made 279/8, but the target was revised to 226 runs from 32 overs.
2016 — Kagiso Rabada takes five wickets as the Proteas bowl out England 323 in the third Test at the Wanderers, a first-innings lead of 10 runs. Then the fast bowler produces the top score, just 16 runs, as the home side is skittled for 83 runs in their second innings. The English then waltzed to victory by seven wickets to stretch their lead in the four-match series to 2-0.
2017 — Lizelle Lee scores 46 off 31 balls and Dane van Niekerk an unbeaten 42, but with nobody else making double figures the South African women, needing 137 to win, lose the third ODI against Bangladesh at Cox’s Bazar by 10 runs.
2024 — Percy Tau misses a spot kick as Bafana Bafana lose their opening match of the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, going down 0-2 to Mali in their Group E match in Korhogo.
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