1896 — South Africa are bowled out for 117 by England to lose the third and final Test at Newlands by an innings and 33 runs and suffer a 0-3 series clean sweep.
1909 — Vincent Duncker runs the 440-yard hurdles in an unofficial 57.2 sec world record in Johannesburg. The mark was never ratified.
1960 — Malcolm Spence breaks the 300-yard world record at a meet in Germiston, running 29.4sec in an effort that was never ratified.
1986 — Zola Budd retains her women’s world cross-country championship crown in Neuchatel, Switzerland in dominant fashion, winning by 18 seconds. Lynn Jennings of the US was second and France’s Annette Sergent third. Lamine Diack of Senegal, vice-president of the IAAF governing body, refused to hand over the medals, objecting to the South African’s presence on the podium, but a Swiss politician took over the presentation duties. Budd remains the only South African-born runner to have won silverware at the world cross-country championships.
1998 — Allan Donald takes three wickets as South Africa bowl out Sri Lanka for 306 to win the first Test at Newlands by 70 runs.
2003 — Playing at the Wanderers, defending champions Australia thump India by 125 runs to retain the Cricket World Cup trophy.
2006 — LJ van Zyl wins the 400m hurdles crown in a Commonwealth Games record of 48.05 sec in Melbourne as he and countryman Alwyn Myburgh deliver gold and silver for South Africa in the same race. Pieter de Villiers, the third South African athlete in the final, ends seventh. On the same evening, Anika Smit adds to South Africa’s medal haul with gold in the high-jump as she equals her 1.91m personal best, which she would improve by 2cm the following year.
2013 — Bafana Bafana beat Central Africa Republic 2-0 in a World Cup qualifying match at Cape Town Stadium. Left-back Thabo Matlaba, who attacked frequently in the match, scored in the 33rd minute as he drove from 30 metres out. Bernard Parker netted in the 73rd minute after being set free by a through-pass from Siphiwe Tshabalala.
2014 — Dane van Niekerk scores an unbeaten 90 off 66 balls and Lizelle Lee 67 not out as the South African women, totalling 163, beat Pakistan by 44 runs in a T20 World Cup match in Sylhet. Marizanne Kapp took 3/16.
2015 — Former tennis star Bob Hewitt, the Australian who switched nationality after marrying a South African, is found guilty of raping two girls in the early 1980s and indecently assaulting a third in the early 1990s. Hewitt was 75 when he was sentenced to an effective six years in prison. Hewitt won 15 doubles grand slam titles and was part of the South African team that won the 1974 Davis Cup.
2016 — Sune Luus takes 5/8 as the South African women restrict Ireland to 89/9 to win their T20 World Cup match in Chennai by 67 runs.
2018 — Dean Elgar, resuming on 121, makes 141 not out to help South Africa to 311 in the third Test against Australia at Newlands.
2021 — Sune Luus scores 28 as the South African women are held to 112/7 to lose the third and final T20 against India in Lucknow by nine wickets.
2022 — South Africa is bowled out for 154 in the third and final ODI against Bangladesh at Centurion, with the top contribution being 39 by Janneman Malan. The visitors won by nine wickets to take the series 2-1.
2025 — Prudence Sekgodiso becomes the first South African woman to win a world indoor championships medal as she wins the 800m final in Nanjing, China. Sekgodiso paced the race perfectly and she attacked on the final lap to win a 1 min 58.40 sec national record. Ethiopian Nigist Getachew was second with Patricia Silva of Portugal third.
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