1931 — SA’s cricketers get their first taste of Australian batting star Don Bradman, who scores 200 on the opening day of the first Test in Brisbane. Bradman went on to make 226 to help the hosts to victory by an innings.
1971 — Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa of Madagascar wins the men’s 100m on the final day of the first-ever mixed-race athletics meet at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, clocking 10.5 sec into a stiff breeze to beat Francois Wahl by 01. sec. Andries Krogman, a Potchefstroom University student, won a controversial 10,000m, beating Johannes Metsing by 3.6 sec. The 31 min 5.6 sec winning time seemed ridiculously slow, until people realised an official’s error had resulted in the athletes running an extra lap. Instead of having 24 laps remaining at the end of the first circuit, the official had 25. Krogman and Metsing had been neck-and-neck at what should have been the finish.
1976 — Elijah “Tap Tap” Makhathini becomes the first boxer to win a Supreme national title after the black South African middleweight champion sends the white South African middleweight champion Jan Kies to the canvas five times in the third round of their bout at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg. Referee Peter Lock waved it over with Kies back on his feet, soaking up more punishment. Gerrie Coetzee lifted the Supreme heavyweight title later in the tournament, felling the smaller James Mathatho, who also campaigned as a light-heavyweight, with a left to the solar plexus in the seventh round. The Supreme title was an apartheid compromise, allowing black and white champions to face off across the colour bar.
1982 — Kepler Wessels scores a century on his Test debut, playing for Australia in the Ashes series against England. Picked for the second Test in Brisbane, Wessels finished the second day unbeaten on 105, and went on to post 162 as Australia built up a first-innings lead of 122. Playing for England was another SA-born player, Allan Lamb, who top-scored for his side in the first innings with 72. Wessels ended up as player of the match, which Australia won by seven wickets.
1998 — Thulani “Sugar Boy” Malinga becomes a world champion for the third time when he stops Peter Madsen of Denmark in the eighth round to lift the marginal WBF super-middleweight title. Malinga was allowed to fight in Denmark despite being advised to quit after “failing” a brain scan at home.
1999 — Bafana Bafana bag their first-ever victory over a European team as they beat Sweden 1-0 in a Nelson Mandela Challenge match at Loftus in Pretoria. Siyabonga Nomvete scored the winner in the 86th minute.
2002 — Shaun Pollock takes 4/18 as the Proteas blitz Sri Lanka by six wickets with 123 balls to spare in the first ODI at the Wanderers. Makhaya Ntini took 3/22 as the tourists crashed to 128 all out, Mahela Jayawardene top-scoring with 31.
2004 — Left wing Bryan Habana scores two tries as the Springboks romp to a 45-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. Centre Jaque Fourie, debutant flank Solly Tyibilika and flyhalf Jaco van der Westhuyzen scored SA’s other three tries. Locks Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield received yellow cards.
2009 — AB de Villiers scores 121 off 85 balls to lift the Proteas to an imposing 354/6 in the third ODI against England at Newlands. Wayne Parnell took five wickets as SA triumphed by 112 runs to level the five-match series at 1-1.
2010 — Substitute Willem Alberts and left wing Lwazi Mvovo score tries as the Springboks beat England 21-11 at Twickenham. Flyhalf Morne Steyn converted one and added three penalties.
2013 — Hashim Amla scores 98 and AB de Villiers a swashbuckling 74 off 45 balls, but it’s not enough as the Proteas lose the rain-interrupted second ODI against Pakistan at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth by a single run. Chasing 263 off 45 overs, SA ended on 261/6 to lose their first-ever ODI series against Pakistan, who had an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
2015 — The Proteas are bowled out for 185 in Nagpur as India take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series, winning the third Test by 124 runs. The visitors were dismissed for just 79 in their first innings.
2016 — The Proteas lose the final third Test against Australia in Adelaide by seven wickets, though they win the series 2-1. Faf du Plessis made an unbeaten 118 in the first innings of 259/9, and Stephen Cook contributed 104 in SA’s second innings of 250. The home side needed 127 to win.
2018 — US-based player Thembi Kgatlana scores her fifth goal of the tournament as Banyana Banyana beat Mali 2-0 in their African Women’s Championship semifinal at Cape Coast in Ghana. The win also secured them their first-ever spot at the World Cup tournament in France the following year. Right back Lebogang Ramalepe netted SA’s other goal late in the match. The final whistle brought a flood of emotion with skipper Janine van Wyk breaking down in tears.
2020 — Jonny Bairstow smashes an unbeaten 86 off 48 balls as England down the Proteas by five wickets the first T20 in Cape Town. Faf du Plessis scored 58 in SA’s knock of 179/6. Beuran Hendricks was clubbed for 56 runs off his four overs.
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