73 incidents documented
India vs South Africa
June 2025
India's third consecutive defeat in a World Test Championship Final — this time to South Africa at Lord's in 2025 — sparked the most intense cricket debate in years about whether India's Test team was structurally incapable of winning ICC titles.
India vs South Africa
29 June 2024
After India won the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados, Rohit Sharma announced his T20I retirement during the on-field celebrations — only for Virat Kohli to simultaneously announce his own retirement — creating a bittersweet, overlapping comedy of farewells that left fans unsure which retirement to cry about first.
India vs South Africa
2024-06-29
India beat South Africa by 7 runs in a dramatic final in Barbados to win the 2024 T20 World Cup — Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both announcing retirement from T20 internationals after the victory, ending an era in Indian T20 cricket.
India vs South Africa
29 June 2024
India ended an 11-year ICC trophy drought by defeating South Africa in a breathtaking T20 World Cup Final in Barbados — a victory that sparked celebrations across the subcontinent and prompted the retirement of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja from T20 international cricket.
South Africa vs West Indies
28 October 2021
Quinton de Kock withdrew from South Africa's T20 World Cup match against the West Indies after Cricket South Africa mandated players take a knee before matches.
England vs South Africa
2021-10-26
Kagiso Rabada's targeted assault on Ben Stokes — one of cricket's most powerful all-rounders — across T20 and Test cricket produced one of modern cricket's great personal rivalries, with Rabada's pace and Stokes's counter-attacking instincts creating compelling confrontations.
South Africa Women
15 August 2021
South Africa women's cricketers raised allegations of racial discrimination in team selection and treatment, echoing similar issues in the men's setup.
South Africa vs England
January 2020
Confusion arose about whether a ball was dead after a no-ball was bowled and the batsman was hit, leading to debate about free hit procedures.
South Africa vs Pakistan
22 January 2019
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed was caught on stump mic making a racist comment about South Africa's Andile Phehlukwayo, leading to a four-match ban.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
David Warner had to be physically restrained after charging at Quinton de Kock in a staircase at Kingsmead, reportedly after de Kock made comments about Warner's wife Candice.
South Africa vs Various
24 March 2018
Kagiso Rabada accumulated demerit points for aggressive celebrations and physical contact with batsmen after dismissals, nearly missing key matches.
Australia vs South Africa
3 March 2018
The Warner-de Kock feud set the toxic tone for the entire 2018 Australia-South Africa series that culminated in the Sandpapergate scandal.
South Africa vs Australia
2018-03-01
Kagiso Rabada's dismissal of David Warner during South Africa's 2018 home series — followed by a shoulder bump that earned Rabada a suspension — and the overall tension between the two teams that contributed to the Sandpaper Gate atmosphere of the tour.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the third Test at Cape Town, in a plan hatched by David Warner and known to captain Steve Smith, leading to unprecedented bans.
Australia vs South Africa
24 March 2018
Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test, leading to bans for Bancroft, captain Steve Smith, and vice-captain David Warner in the most damaging scandal in Australian cricket history.
India vs South Africa
2017-06-11
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's outswinging delivery to AB de Villiers in the 2017 Champions Trophy — inducing an early edge against one of cricket's greatest batsmen on a swinging-friendly Oval surface — demonstrated India's ability to use English conditions as a weapon at ICC events.
South Africa vs Australia
19 November 2016
South African captain Faf du Plessis was found guilty of ball tampering for applying mint-laden saliva to the ball during the Hobart Test against Australia.
South Africa vs Australia
2016-11-12
A cricket ball got stuck in the grille of a batsman's helmet, creating complete confusion as nobody knew what the rules were for such an unprecedented situation.
ICC vs Player Safety
2016-01-01
The ICC's mandatory helmet safety standard introduced in 2016 — requiring all international players to wear helmets meeting a specific British Standard certification — was a direct response to Phillip Hughes's death from a cricket ball strike and represented cricket's most significant player safety regulation.
South Africa vs New Zealand
24 March 2015
AB de Villiers was given out run-out in the 2015 World Cup semi-final after replays were inconclusive. South Africa lost to New Zealand in an agonising finish. Grant Elliott hit the winning six off Dale Steyn to send New Zealand to their first World Cup final.
South Africa vs New Zealand
24 March 2015
AB de Villiers was given out run out by the third umpire on a genuinely inconclusive decision. South Africa lost in heartbreaking fashion — Dale Steyn conceding the winning six to Grant Elliott off the final ball.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2015-03-24
Grant Elliott hit Dale Steyn for six to win the 2015 World Cup semi-final, ending South Africa's 'choking' curse in the most dramatic way possible before helping the devastated Steyn to his feet.
India vs South Africa
25 November 2015
The Nagpur Test pitch for the 2015 India-South Africa series was rated 'poor' by the ICC after the match ended in under three days on a pitch that crumbled and turned square from day one.
South Africa vs West Indies
2015-01-18
AB de Villiers made 149 off 44 balls against West Indies — reaching his century off just 31 deliveries, the fastest ODI hundred in history — with 16 sixes and 9 fours in an innings that redefined what was considered humanly possible in white-ball cricket.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2015-03-24
New Zealand needed 12 off the last over to reach their first World Cup final. Grant Elliott — a South African-born New Zealander — hit Dale Steyn for six with 3 balls remaining, then two with the last ball to win by 4 wickets in one of cricket's most emotionally charged finishes.
South Africa vs Australia
19 February 2014
South African fast bowler Vernon Philander was found guilty of ball tampering during the second Test against Australia at Port Elizabeth and fined 75% of his match fee.
South Africa vs Pakistan
November 2013
Faf du Plessis was caught on camera applying saliva to the ball while sucking a mint, which constitutes ball tampering. He was fined but not banned.
South Africa vs Various
3 January 2013
Dale Steyn was known for his aggressive celebrations and confrontational send-offs, frequently getting in batsmen's faces after dismissing them.
South Africa vs India
26 December 2013
Dale Steyn bowled a sustained and hostile spell at Virat Kohli during India's tour of South Africa in 2013-14, hitting him multiple times on the body and helmet. Kohli showed growing maturity in absorbing the blows and fighting back. Their exchanges across the series became one of cricket's great fast-bowler-batsman rivalries of the era.
South Africa vs India
2013-12-18
Morne Morkel's height-generated steep bounce during South Africa's 2013 home series created specific problems for Virat Kohli — targeting the rising ball at his gloves from a good length on seaming, bouncy South African pitches — as part of a wider South African plan to contain India's most dangerous batsman.
South Africa vs Pakistan
15 October 2013
Faf du Plessis was caught on camera rubbing the ball against the zipper of his trouser pocket during a Test against Pakistan, constituting ball tampering.
England vs South Africa
August 2012
An appeal for obstructing the field was considered during the Lord's Test between England and South Africa, highlighting one of cricket's most rarely invoked Laws.
Australia vs South Africa
2012-11-22
Dale Steyn's sustained assault on Michael Clarke across multiple Tests in 2012 — dismissing him repeatedly with inswing and seam movement — produced one of cricket's most compelling bowler-captain confrontations, with Steyn briefly making Clarke look like a vulnerable tail-ender.
South Africa
13 June 2012
South African fast bowler Wayne Parnell admitted to meeting a bookmaker during the IPL but claimed he did not engage in any corrupt activity.
South Africa / IPL franchise
1 May 2012
South African batsman JP Duminy reported that he was approached by a suspected bookmaker during IPL 2012, and was praised for following proper reporting procedures.
India vs South Africa
2010-02-24
Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in history to score a double century in ODI cricket, making 200 not out off 147 balls against South Africa — a record that many thought was statistically impossible.
South Africa vs Australia
2009-01-04
South Africa needed 72 more runs to save the first Test when Graeme Smith — their captain — came to the crease with a broken left hand, batting one-handed to guide South Africa to a draw over the final 56 balls.
Australia vs South Africa
16 December 2008
Graeme Smith was given not out LBW by umpire Steve Davis in Perth when the ball was clearly hitting middle stump. Smith scored 108 and South Africa won the match and the series 2-1 — Australia's first home series defeat in 16 years.
Australia vs South Africa
16 December 2008
Graeme Smith was given not out LBW by umpire Steve Davis when replays showed all three stumps being hit. Smith scored 108 and South Africa won the series 2-1 — Australia's first home series defeat in 16 years.
India vs South Africa
2008-03-29
Virender Sehwag made 319 off 304 balls at a strike rate of 104 in a Test match — the second-highest score ever made by an Indian, remarkable not just for its size but for the extraordinary speed at which it was accumulated.
South Africa vs various
2008-12-27
Dale Steyn finished his Test career with 439 wickets at 22.95 — the best average by any bowler with over 200 wickets in the 21st century — and became the fastest South African to 300 wickets, consistently ranked world's number one Test bowler for five years.
Australia vs South Africa
25 April 2007
South Africa's World Cup semi-final against Australia was affected by rain and bad light, with DLS calculations and umpiring decisions combining to produce a controversial result.
South Africa vs Pakistan
11 January 2007
Andre Nel sledged Shoaib Akhtar aggressively, only for Shoaib to smash him for a massive six off the next ball, then mimic Nel's aggressive celebrations.
Australia vs South Africa
2007-04-03
Australia needed 19 off the last over to reach the 2007 World Cup final. Michael Hussey hit 18 off the first five balls — then a bye completed the single needed as Australia tied the match and qualified for the final on Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
Australia vs South Africa
2006-11-05
Brett Lee's pace and Warne's spin working in tandem against Graeme Smith during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy produced one of the great bowling partnerships targeting a specific batsman — Lee softening Smith with pace before Warne introduced himself with attacking left-arm variations.
South Africa vs Australia
2006-03-12
Australia scored a world-record 434/4 in an ODI and thought they'd won — then South Africa chased it down with 438/9, producing the greatest and most absurd ODI ever.
Sri Lanka vs South Africa
2006-07-27
Mahela Jayawardene (374) and Kumar Sangakkara (287) added 624 runs for the 3rd wicket — the highest partnership in Test cricket history — as Sri Lanka piled up 756/5 declared and skipped to an innings victory.
Sri Lanka vs South Africa
2006-07-31
Mahela Jayawardene batted for 752 minutes to score 374 against South Africa — the second-highest individual score in Test history, one run short of Brian Lara's record, as part of the 624-run partnership that broke the Test partnership record with Sangakkara.
England vs South Africa
26 July 2004
South Africa were accused of ball tampering during the third Test against England at The Oval in 2004, with the ball being replaced by umpires.
New Zealand vs South Africa
2004-03-12
New Zealand opener Mark Richardson celebrated his Test centuries with a pre-planned robotic dance routine that became one of cricket's most endearing traditions.
South Africa vs India
18 November 2001
Makhaya Ntini bowled a ferocious short-pitched spell at Sachin Tendulkar during India's 2001 tour of South Africa. Ntini hit Tendulkar on the helmet and body multiple times, drawing blood in one delivery. Tendulkar's refusal to yield and subsequent boundary hitting off the back foot made the exchange one of the great individual confrontations of the tour.
India vs South Africa
16 November 2001
Sachin Tendulkar was charged with ball tampering by match referee Mike Denness during a Test in South Africa, causing a diplomatic crisis between India and the ICC.
India vs South Africa
20 November 2001
Match referee Mike Denness charged Sachin Tendulkar with ball tampering and imposed bans on six Indian players after the Port Elizabeth Test, leading India to demand Denness' removal and nearly causing a diplomatic crisis.
South Africa vs Various
7 April 2000
South African captain Hansie Cronje was found guilty of match fixing after Delhi Police intercepted phone calls between Cronje and an Indian bookmaker, Sanjay Chawla.
South Africa vs England
18 January 2000
Hansie Cronje engineered a contrived result at Centurion after rain had washed out most of the Test, later revealed to have been done at the behest of a bookmaker in exchange for a leather jacket and cash.
South Africa vs India
19 March 2000
Hansie Cronje offered Herschelle Gibbs $15,000 to score fewer than 20 runs in an ODI against India. Gibbs agreed but then scored 74, failing to carry out the fix.
South Africa vs India
9 March 2000
Delhi Police intercepted phone calls revealing Hansie Cronje had been in contact with bookmaker Sanjay Chawla during the 2000 India tour of South Africa, sparking the global match-fixing crisis.
South Africa
7 April 2000
South African captain Hansie Cronje was exposed as having accepted money from bookmakers to influence matches, shattering the sport's innocence and triggering a global crackdown on corruption in cricket.
Australia vs South Africa
17 June 1999
Allan Donald was run out in the most dramatic fashion in the 1999 World Cup semi-final, but South Africa argued the initial call by the square leg umpire was premature.
India vs South Africa
1999-06-05
Herschelle Gibbs dropped a catch off Sachin Tendulkar after celebrating prematurely, reportedly prompting Tendulkar to tell him 'You've just dropped the World Cup, mate.'
Australia vs South Africa
17 June 1999
South Africa's Lance Klusener hit two fours off successive balls to bring the scores level, but a catastrophic run out of Allan Donald off the last ball sent Australia through on net run rate in one of cricket's greatest ever finishes.
Australia vs South Africa
1999-06-17
Lance Klusener smashed Australia to the brink of elimination, then ran out Allan Donald off the penultimate ball to tie the match — but Australia advanced to the final on superior run rate, ending South Africa's greatest World Cup campaign in devastating fashion.
South Africa vs various
1999-06-01
Lance Klusener was named Player of the Tournament at the 1999 World Cup after scoring 281 runs at an average of 140.50 and a strike rate of 122, taking 17 wickets — the most dominant all-round tournament performance in World Cup history — for a team that did not win the title.
South Africa vs Australia
March 1994
Shane Warne dismissed Daryll Cullinan 8 times in 9 Test innings over several years, breaking the South African batsman's confidence so completely that Cullinan reportedly sought professional psychological help. Their exchanges — including Warne announcing which ball he was about to bowl and still getting Cullinan out — became cricket's most famous case of mental disintegration.
England vs South Africa
1994-08-18
After being struck on the helmet by Fanie de Villiers, Devon Malcolm told South Africa 'You guys are history' — then backed it up by taking 9/57 in one of cricket's greatest bowling performances fuelled by pure personal fury.
England vs South Africa
23 July 1994
England captain Mike Atherton was caught on camera applying dirt from his pocket to the ball during the Lord's Test against South Africa, leading to a fine and a crisis of confidence.
England vs South Africa
1994-08-20
After being hit on the helmet by Fanie de Villiers, Devon Malcolm told South Africa 'You guys are history.' He then took 9/57 — the best bowling figures by an England fast bowler in Test history — to bowl South Africa out for 175.
England vs South Africa
22 March 1992
A farcical rain rule calculation left South Africa needing 22 runs off 1 ball in the World Cup semi-final, robbing them of a realistic chance of reaching the final.
South Africa vs Pakistan
1992-03-01
Jonty Rhodes launched himself horizontally through the air, gathered the ball one-handed, and broke the stumps in a single motion to run out Inzamam-ul-Haq — a fielding moment that changed how the game thought about athleticism in the field.
South Africa vs England/Sri Lanka/West Indies/Australia rebel XIs
6 March 1982
Multiple international teams sent unofficial rebel squads to play in apartheid-era South Africa, leading to lengthy bans for participating players and deepening cricket's political fault lines.
South Africa vs Various (Cancelled Tours)
1 January 1971
India was among the first nations to sever cricketing ties with South Africa over apartheid, and the broader international boycott eventually led to South Africa's complete isolation from world cricket for 21 years.
South Africa vs Australia
1970-02-05
Graeme Pollock made 274 against Australia — the highest score ever made by a South African in Tests until 2012, and one of the finest innings in the game's history, played by a batsman whose career was cut short by apartheid isolation.
England vs South Africa (cancelled)
28 August 1968
Basil D'Oliveira's selection for England's tour to South Africa in 1968 was refused by the apartheid government, leading to the tour's cancellation and eventually South Africa's expulsion from international cricket.