DHAKA // The UAE’s cricketers enjoyed a day off yesterday to bask in the joy of their shock win over Afghanistan at the start of the Asia Cup.
Without playing, or even training, they still managed to end the day on top of the qualifying pool, too.
In the only match on the second day of the opening round, which will decide who qualifies to face India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh next week, the Afghans bounced back with a last-over win against Oman.
As such, all three sides have two points, with the UAE’s superior run-rate accrued in winning by 16 runs on the opening night putting them at the top of the table.
All of which is probably a better position than most observers expected the national team to be in at this point, given their poor form over the past year.
Read more: Rohan Mustafa goes from UAE cricket pauper to prince against Afghanistan
Also see: Amjad Javed juggles long hours and long hauls while being UAE's most important cricketer
The national team face Hong Kong at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah, a town in the southern perimeter of the Bangladeshi capital, Sunday evening.
A win would put Amjad Javed’s side in an almost unassailable position. Minds might be starting to wonder to the prospect of facing the biggest stars of Asian cricket, but Rohan Mustafa, the man of the match against Afghanistan, says that is not the case.
Firstly, the players are focused on the job in hand, he reckons. And secondly, they already have recent experience of playing against the likes of India and Pakistan anyway, and on an even bigger stage than the Asia Cup affords.
“You can’t really say exciting, because we played the World Cup against them last year,” said Mustafa, whose match-defining 77 against Afghanistan was the highest by a UAE batsman in Twenty20 internationals to date.
“But it would be very good for us because we have not been performing for the past one year. We were losing against all teams, we lost against Hong Kong.
“If we do win against them, it will be a great boost for our players, as well as cricket in the UAE. If we play on the TV, people will see us and it will be good for our cricket.”
As Mustafa pointed out, the UAE were resoundingly beaten by Sunday’s opponents last time they met. Hong Kong thrashed the national team in all formats when they toured Dubai at the end of 2015.
Back then, the UAE found it particularly tough to dislodge Mark Chapman, the young Hong Kong batsman. Maybe they might think about employing the tactics Oman did while winning their opening match.
Chapman was run out backing up – or “Mankadded” – by the Oman bowler Aamir Kaleem. Simon Cook, the English former county cricketer who is Hong Kong’s coach, deemed it a “cowardly” way to earn a dismissal, but he suggested it was something the players will be wary of in future.
“We will work on their backing up, making sure they are not encroaching too much,” Cook said.
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Billie Holliday: for the burn and also the way she told stories.
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Duke Ellington: for his edge and spirituality.
Louis Armstrong: his legacy is undeniable. He is considered as one of the most revolutionary and influential musicians.
Terence Blanchard: very political - a lot of jazz musicians are making protest music right now.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
One-off T20 International: UAE v Australia
When: Monday, October 22, 2pm start
Where: Abu Dhabi Cricket, Oval 1
Tickets: Admission is free
Australia squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Darcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Peter Siddle
