1974 — Frew McMillan and Bob Hewitt beat Adriano Panatta and Paolo Bertolucci in straight sets to give SA an unassailable 3-0 lead over Italy in their Davis Cup semifinal at Ellis Park. Hewitt, a fiery character on the court, was twice warned for his outbursts by the match referee, Otto Hauser of Argentina. A third warning could have got Hewitt disqualified. The SA duo won 7-5 6-4 10-8. Earlier, Ray Moore beat Panatta in the second singles match 4-6 6-0 6-3 6-4 to add to Hewitt’s five-set triumph over Antonio Zugarelli, 4-6 6-0 9-7 4-6 6-1. The victory was as good as winning the final because SA’s scheduled opponent, India, refused to play against SA as part of its general boycott protesting apartheid policies. One of the Indian players was Vijay Amritraj, a regular on the world tour who acted in the James Bond movie Octopussy. He played in the 1987 Davis Cup final, won 5-0 by Sweden.
1980 — Matthews Motshwarateu, known by local fans as Loop-en-Val because of his awkward style, breaks the 10km road world record, smashing 24 seconds off the previous mark as he clocked 27 min 59.3 sec to win a grand prix race in Purchase, New York. Motshwarateu, third at the halfway mark, attacked with 1km remaining and none of his rivals was able to keep up. The victory saw the physical education student earn R7,700 for his university in El Paso, Texas, but he was unable to pocket any of the cash because of his amateur status.
1996 — Sandile Sobandla is knocked out in the fourth round by Thai legend Samson Dutchboy Gym, holder of the WBF junior-bantamweight title, in Roi-et.
2007 — Jacques Kallis scores an unbeaten 100 in SA’s second innings to add to his 155 in the first and help the Proteas to a 160-run victory in the first Test against Pakistan in Karachi. Spinner Paul Harris took 5/73 as SA bowled out the home team for 291 in their first innings and Dale Steyn 5/56 in their second knock of 263.
2014 — Substitute flyhalf Pat Lambie kicks a late penalty to clinch a 27-25 victory over the All Blacks at Ellis Park. Two tries by flyhalf Handré Pollard and one by scrumhalf Francois Hougaard had helped the hosts to a 21-13 halftime lead, but the visitors came back in the second half and with 11 minutes remaining a try by replacement hooker Dane Coles gave New Zealand a one-point lead.
2019 — Right wing Cheslin Kolbe scores two tries as the Springboks down Italy 49-3 in a World Cup group match in Shizuoka, Japan. SA ran in seven tries in total.
2019 — Dean Elgar scores 160 and Quinton de Kock 111, but the Proteas still go on to lose the first Test against India at Visakhapatnam by 203 runs.
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