Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

Village cricketers were stumped when all-time great Aravinda de Silva turned out against them.

The Sri Lankan batting legend - who hit 15,645 international runs - made a surprise appearance for lowly Dorset side Sherborne last Saturday after being roped in by a pal.

Hapless opponents Wimborne and Colehill shook their heads in disbelief as the 1996 World Cup winner took to the field, reports The Sun.

De Silva, 41, hit a six and three fours in his innings of 39 not out to help Sherborne to victory.

He also took two wickets for just four runs with some demon bowling.

The retired star made the one-off appearance thanks to pal Steve Page.

Sherborne captain Andrew Nurton said: "We were amazed when Steve pulled up with Aravinda. He was a class act - the ringer of all ringers."

The light from the cell phone screens allowed surgeons to complete an emergency appendix operation during a blackout in a city in central Argentina, reports said on Saturday.

Leonardo Molina, 29, was on the operating table on July 21, when the power went out in the Policlinico Juan D. Peron, the main hospital in Villa Mercedes, a small city in San Luis province.

"The generator, which should have been working correctly, didn't work," a hospital spokesman, whose name was not given, told TN television news station.

"The surgeons and anesthetists were in the dark... A family member got some cell phones together from people in the hallway and took them in to provide light," he said.

Ricardo Molina, 39, Leonardo's brother, told La Nacion newspaper that the lights were out for an hour and his brother's anesthesia was wearing off.

Hospital Director Dario Maurer told La Nacion the surgery was without light a maximum of 20 minutes.

I've only just found this out, but the Robert Ogden School at Thurnscoe, where I grew up, is now the largest school in the world for the education of autistic children. However, depending on what definition you choose to use, Thurnscoe, with a population of more than 10,000, is also the largest village in the country; yet it now doesn't have a secondary school for children who aren't autistic; they have to be bused to the next township.