Blast from the past: Aussies, Bancroft bust for ball-tampering at Newlands

Today in SA sports history: March 24

2001 — Bafana Bafana beat Mauritius 3-0 in an African Nations’ Cup qualifying match at the now defunct Boet Erasmus stadium in Port Elizabeth. Benni McCarthy, Alfred Phiri and Sibusiso Zuma had scored all three goals in the first 20 minutes.

2006 — Thomas Mashaba makes the first defence of his marginal IBO featherweight title he’d won from Vuyani Bungu, outpointing Yober Ortega of Venezuela in Nelspruit.

2007 — Bafana Bafana beat Chad 3-0 as temperatures hit 42ºC in an African Nations’ Cup qualifying match in N'Djamena. Surprise Moriri and Delron Buckley struck before halftime, with Sibusiso Zuma scoring the third in the 78th minute. It was Carlos Alberto Parreira’s first match in charge of SA.

2012 — Takalani Ndlovu loses his IBF junior-featherweight title on a split decision to countryman Jeffrey Mathebula at Carnival City. It was his second defence of the belt. 

2018 — Bafana Bafana beat hosts Zambia 2-0 to win the final of a four nations tournament in Ndola. Percy Tau scored in the 15th minute and substitute Lebogang Mothiba clinched the match in the 90th minute.

2018 — Australian cricket becomes engulfed in a ball-tampering scandal after Cameron Bancroft is spotted by TV cameras using sandpaper to scuff the ball on the third day of the third Test against the Proteas in Cape Town. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were implicated and all three players were suspended by Cricket Australia. SA went on to win the match by 322 runs on the fourth day to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

2019 — Percy Tau scores twice as Bafana Bafana beat Libya 2-1 in Sfax, Tunisia, to clinch qualification for the African Nations’ Cup finals in Egypt later in the year. SA had needed a draw to book their spot. Tau scored his first in the 50th minute and again in the 69th, three minutes after the hosts had equalised through a penalty.