Blast from the past: Lucky punch sends Dingaan into dreamland

1921 — Medium-pacer Jimmy Blanckenberg takes five wickets as South Africa bowl out Australia for 299 on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s in Durban.

1996 — Former two-time world lightweight champion Dingaan Thobela suffers a surprise knockout at the hands of unheralded Geoff McCreesh. Thobela, still world-ranked at the time, hurt the Englishman in the second round of their bout at the Carousel casino, north of Pretoria. McCreesh backed into the ropes and Thobela jumped in to finish him off, but he got careless, placing his chin at the end of a desperate defensive blow. The arena went dead quiet as Thobela toppled over onto the canvas. The silence was broken by one punter shouting “Get up!” as the count reached four, but the South African remained comfortably in dream land.

2001 — Lance Klusener scores 108 as South Africa make 563 in the first Test against India in Bloemfontein, a first-innings lead of 184.

2005 — The Springboks and Argentina score three tries apiece, but South Africa win their one-off Test in Buenos Aires 34-23 thanks to the boot of fullback Percy Montgomery. Montgomery was also one of the try-scorers, along with centre Jaque Fourie and flanker Juan Smith.

2008 — The Proteas score 118/7 to beat Bangladesh by 12 runs in a one-off T20 at the Wanderers.

2010 — Pakistan level the five-match series at 2-2 as they edge the Proteas by one wicket in the fourth ODI in Dubai. Captain Graeme Smith scored 92 to push South Africa to 274/6, but the home side, teetering on 244/8 with 23 balls remaining, claimed the win off the penultimate ball.

2014 — Rilee Rossouw scores 78 off 50 balls as the Proteas, chasing 145, beat Australia by seven wickets in the first T20 in Adelaide. Kyle Abbott took 3/21.

2016 — Dean Elgar, resuming on 46, scores 127 and JP Duminy, 34 overnight, makes 141 as South Africa take control on the third day of the first Test against Australia in Perth.

2021 — Malcolm Marx scores the only try of the match as the Springboks down Wales 23-18 in Cardiff.

2023 — Marco Jansen’s 14 is the top contribution as the Proteas are bowled out for 83 to lose their World Cup ODI to hosts India at Eden Gardens by 243 runs, their biggest margin of defeat in an ODI to date, surpassing the 182-run defeat by Pakistan from 21 years earlier.