1906 — The Springboks play England for the first time, and have to settle for a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace in London. Forward Billy Millar scored for South Africa in the first half, but that was cancelled out by a try from England winger Freddie Brooks. Ironically, both try-scorers made their debuts that day.
1951 — Flanker Basie van Wyk scores two tries as the Springboks trounce Ireland 17-5 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin to win their second Test on their end-of-year tour. Wing Chum Ochse and centre Ryk van Schoor scored South Africa’s other two tries, with flyhalf Hansie Brewis adding a drop and prop Okey Geffin a conversion. Centre Anthony Browne scored a try for Ireland, converted by fullback Gerry Murphy.
1961 — Captain Jackie McGlew scores an unbeaten 127 as South Africa are bowled out for 292 in the first Test against New Zealand.
1964 — South Africa are bowled out for 226 to lose the first Test against England at Kingsmead by an innings and 104 runs.
1964 — Manuel Francisco fires an amateur world record break of 518 while playing Gus Redmond of New Zealand at the world amateur billiards championships at Pukekohe near Auckland. He broke the mark of 390 set by Jack Karnehm of England a few days earlier in the same tournament. The only higher break at the time was 608, achieved by professional world champion Clark McConachy. Francisco, who was nine points down when he went to the table to land his record break, beat Redmond 2,061 points to 628. They played under the 15-pot rule which was later changed, leaving Francisco with the all-time mark.
2000 — Daleen Terblanche scores an unbeaten 53 as the South African women, needing 135 for victory, beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in a World Cup match in Lincoln.
2001 — Sebastiaan Rothmann retains his WBU cruiserweight title with an eighth-round technical knockout over Crawford Ashley of England in Dagenham. Ashley was a former European champion who had been beaten previously by name fighters including Graciano Rocchigiani, Michael Nunn, Dennis Andries and Virgil Hill.
2002 — Jonty Rhodes scores 98 as the Proteas trounce Pakistan by 132 runs in Durban in the first ODI of a five-match series. The home side made 272/7 with captain Shaun Pollock contributing 57 and Graeme Smith 56.
2013 — Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla both score centuries as the Proteas beat India by 134 runs in Durban in the second ODI for an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Lonwabo Tsotsobe took 4/25 to help dismiss India for 146.
2016 — Chad le Clos wins the 100m butterfly at the world short-course championships in Windsor in a 48.08 world record, beating American runner-up Tom Shields (49.04) by nearly a second.
2023 — Laura Wolvaardt scores an unbeaten 49 as the South African women, needing 95 to win, beat Bangladesh by eight wickets in the third and final T20 in Kimberley to share the series 1-1.
2024 — Chloe Tryon’s 45 is the top score as South Africa’s women are bowled out for 135 on their way to losing the second ODI against England in Durban by six wickets.
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