Help retrieving lastest record

Ok what I am trying to do is select out of the database the latest
record meeting a certain criteria.

Example:

Number | Fruit | Date
15 Apples July 20, 1999
20 Oranges June 7, 2000
13 Pears Jan 31, 2000
17 Apples April 10, 1999
Now what I need to do is select the oranges out because the date is the
latest one, something like:

select * from basket where max(date);
This would yield me:
20 Oranges June 7, 2000

I know this doesn't work but I need something like it.
or something like

select * from basket where max(date) and fruit='Apples';
This would yield me:
15 Apples July 20, 1999

Thank you in advance,

--
Steve Meynell
Candata Systems