1972 — Eric de Vries, described as “a sort of seam bowler”, takes seven wickets for four runs to help Springs High School Old Boys bowl out Benoni in a club cricket match.
1977 — All-rounder Alan Kourie hits a home run as his Giants team smash Bears 14-0 in a Castle Cup quarterfinal. The previous day Kourie, an all-rounder for the Transvaal cricket side, scored an undefeated 40 runs in a Currie Cup match against Rhodesia before bowling 0/46 in 15 overs. Kourie represented SA in both sports, a feat that has become more difficult in the professional era with longer seasons.
1978 — It is reported that South Africa will field its first-ever mixed Davis Cup team when they meet the US in Nashville, Tennessee, the following month. Selectors included junior Peter Lamb, a coloured from Cape Town who was studying at university in Nashville. He wouldn’t play but would get experience being with a squad that included doubles partners Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan, who ended up scoring SA’s only point in the tie. Bernie Mitton and Byron Bertram were unable to make a dent against Vitas Gerulaitis and Harold Solomon.
1982 — Robbie Williams fails in his challenge for the WBA’s newly created cruiserweight title, losing by split decision over 15 rounds to Ossie Ocasio of Puerto Rico for the vacant belt at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg. One judge gave it to the South African by two points, but the other two had his opponent winning by four points.
1990 — Mike Gatting’s English rebel cricket tour is cut short with one Test and six one-day matches unplayed. The decision was made after widespread protests, including by some hotel staff, forcing Gatting to cook his own dinner at one stage. But the final straw was a bomb that blew up the ticket sales office at Newlands. The one-day game that had been scheduled to be played in Cape Town on February 27 had been sold out already in a day and a half.
2010 — Cape Town-based Chris Bertish wins the big-wave Maverick Surf Contest at Half Moon Bay, claiming the $50,000 (R895,000) first prize, part of which he used to pay back his brother and two friends who had lent him money for the air ticket. Waves were so big that they knocked spectators off their perches on a jetty, with three people suffering broken bones.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.