09 Feb 2003

Cape Town, South Africa, the location for the first match of 2003's World Cup. Facing the West Indies, the hosts fell three runs short, despite Lance Klusener repeating some of his heroics from the previous World Cup. The real hero, however, was Brian Lara. On his first match back from illness, Lara struck a majestic 116 off 132 balls, but it was to be his only century in a poor campaign for the West Indies.

Celebrating their birthday today:
Bunny Butler (80) | Qasim Umar (52) | Glenn McGrath (40) | Mike Rindel (47) | Alfonso Thomas (32) | Abdur Rauf (32) | Ryan McLaren (27) |