Brian Lara admitted yesterday that his sixteenth one day hundred and his second in Cricket World Cup-matches against the old foe, South Africa, was probably his best one day-knock ever.

The first African opera, based on the life story of a Zulu princess who chronicled in song the brutalities of British colonialism, opened here last week to huge acclaim, not least from star guest, Nelson Mandela.

The United Nations’ chief weapons inspectors hailed new discussions with Iraqi officials in Baghdad yesterday as ‘very substantial’ following more than four hours of talks billed as a final opportunity for Iraq to avoid war.

Two people have been charged with looting wreckage from the space shuttle Columbia. The arrests are the first to be made in Nacogdoches County since the expiry on Friday of the authorities’ amnesty for individuals who had collected, and kept, spaceship debris.

The first World Cup (or at least the first World Cup as we’d recognise it today) took place not in 1975, but in 1973, culminating in a final at Edgbaston where England beat Australia by 92 runs. It took men’s cricket another two years to catch up to their female counterparts, but they got there in the end.

The England cricket team is set to honour its fixture against Zimbabwe in Harare on Thursday following a day of intense behind-the-scenes discussions with security and cricket officials on Saturday.

Whatever the temptation to be cynical about a R30-million sound, light and dance spectacular as a prelude to a cricket tournament, Saturday night’s 2003 World Cup opening ceremony went a long way towards dispelling notions of unnecessary extravagance.

As the countdown to the start of the World Cup continued in Cape Town on Saturday, South African captain Shaun Pollock conceded that he’d had a few sleepless hours during the week leading up to South Africa’s opening match against the West Indies at Newlands on Saturday.