Australian tail-ender Jason Gillespie stunned both himself and the cricket world on Wednesday by scoring an unbeaten 201 in the second Test against Bangladesh. ”I never expected it in my wildest dreams … so it’s pretty surreal, pretty bizarre actually,” said the fast bowler, who celebrated his 31st birthday with one of the most astonishing Test knocks ever seen.
Further suspects police want to arrest for last month’s massive airport heist are in Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Angola, the Kempton Park Regional Court heard on Wednesday. Investigating officer Peter Mbobani revealed this in cross-examination by Pieter Wilkens, an advocate defending an Airports Company South Africa employee.
Police found the car of murdered fashion designer Richard Bloom abandoned in the parking lot of a Cape Town shopping mall shortly before 2am on Wednesday. Bloom and his friend, actor Brett Goldin — who starred in the comedy Crazy Monkey Presents Straight Outta Benoni — were found dead beside a highway on Monday morning having been shot in the back of their heads.
The case of the so-called Waterkloof four was referred back to the regional court for sentencing on Wednesday, after the Pretoria High Court found it was improper for it to sentence the four former schoolboys. The four white accused were found guilty of the murder of an unidentified black man and assaulting another in 2001.
Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn put in match-winning performances to wrap up the New Zealand innings on the fifth morning of the first Castle Lager Test at Supersport Park on Wednesday. The two pace bowlers needed just 33 minutes to bowl New Zealand out for 120 runs, to give South Africa victory by 128 runs.
Eberhardt Rechtin, an engineer who played a key role in the development of space technology during the Cold War, has died. He was 80. Rechtin died on Friday at Torrance Memorial Hospital in California after lengthy battles with several illnesses, his family said in a statement.
He was behind the worst act of terrorism ever carried out on Japanese soil, but in the eyes of Kaori, his youngest daughter, Shoko Asahara was ”a loving father” who taught her and her siblings to cherish all living things. ”I remember him as a very kind, very proud man,” she said as her father’s lawyers battled to save him from the gallows for masterminding the March 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
The United States has made no deal with Somalia to run anti-piracy patrols off its coast, a US official said on Tuesday, denying claims by the East African country’s prime minister. ”There is no such deal as alleged,” said the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ”We haven’t made any arrangement to patrol those waters.”
The JSE’s all-share index was looking strong in noon trade on Wednesday after breaking above the 21 000 level for the first time in opening trade. The bourse was supported by global markets and commodity prices, and the negative effect of a stronger rand was minimal.
Greater liberalisation of international trade would open up market opportunities for South African agriculture, and the important reforms the country has undertaken over the last 20 years have prepared it to reap the benefits, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report released on Wednesday.