Blast from the past: Rhodes dives his way into SA cricketing hearts

Today in SA sports history: March 8

1980 — Jimmy Abbott takes on Kallie Knoetze at the Ellis Park tennis stadium  in one of the most highly-anticipated local heavyweight matchups, but blows him out in the first round. Knoetze retired the following year.

1992 — Diving at full stretch with ball in hand, Jonty Rhodes knocks the bales off to run out Pakistan’s slow-moving batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq at the World Cup in Brisbane. Rhodes could have thrown at the wicket, but instead he took the safe route, outsprinting Inzamam. That run-out became iconic in world cricket and embodied Rhodes’s live wire approach to the game, as a fielder and even as a batsman prepared to dart for every run. It also helped SA to win that match by 20 runs. Pakistan went on to win that World Cup...