Alastair Cook gave an immediate answer to those who doubted his ability to lead the England one-day international team as they triumphed over Sri Lanka by 16 runs yesterday at Old Trafford and won a 3-2 series victory.
"To play well under the pressure of a deciding match was very pleasing," Cook said. "We don't want it to be close but we handled the pressure excellently. There is stuff to improve on but this is a step in the right direction."
The bowler Jade Dernbach held his nerve as the home side beat the World Cup finalists.
Sri Lanka, chasing 269 for victory, finished on 252 all out with 10 balls of their innings left.
Dernbach dismissed the dangerous Angelo Mathews for a near run-a-ball 62 with a clever slower ball the all-rounder sliced to Tim Bresnan at backward point.
Dernbach finished the match by clean bowling Lasith Malinga for a return of two for 49.
The tourists were in trouble at 131 for five, needing 138 more runs to win, when Mathews and Jeevan Mendis came together with 20 overs left.
Their sixth-wicket partnership of 102 troubled England until Mendis holed out to the left-arm spin of Samit Patel.
New batsman Nuwan Kulasekara then hit James Anderson, bowling on his Lancashire home ground, to Eoin Morgan at deep midwicket before Suraj Randiv was run out in a dreadful mix-up.
Malinga struck Anderson for a huge six to get the target down to 17 off 12 balls.
Dernbach's double strike gave Cook a win in his first series in permanent charge of the one-day side and a measure of revenge after a 10-wicket World Cup quarter-final defeat by the islanders.
Sri Lanka's reply got off to a dreadful start as they slumped to 12 for two inside four overs, fast-medium bowler Bresnan removing both openers on his way to three for 49 in nine overs.
The debutant batsman Dimuth Karunaratne edged Bresnan to Jonathan Trott at first slip for four and the captain Tillakaratne Dilshan fell for the same score when he pulled the Yorkshireman straight to Dernbach at long leg.
The batting ace Mahela Jayawardene managed just nine before he mistimed a drive off Anderson to Cook at mid-off to the delight of a capacity 19,000 crowd.
Dinesh Chandimal counter-attacked by driving Bresnan for six and repeating the dose against off-spinner Graeme Swann.
But Chandimal, who made a superb unbeaten hundred in Sri Lanka's six-wicket win at Lord's last weekend, was out for 54 when he raced down the pitch to Swann only to be beaten in flight before being stumped by Craig Kieswetter.
Chandimal's exit ended a partnership of 94 with the experienced left-hander Kumar Sangakkara that had taken Sri Lanka to 123 for four in the 27th over.
Sangakkara followed soon afterwards, chopping on to Bresnan for 48.
That England made 268 for nine was largely down to a fourth-wicket stand of 118 between man-of-the-match Trott (72) and Morgan (57).
They seemed set for a huge total when man-of-the-series Cook put on 85 in quick time with Kieswetter after winning the toss to follow the pair's unbroken stand of 171 in a crushing 10-wicket win at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
Cook, who had made 119 and 95 not out in his previous two innings, was deceived on 31 by a sharply turning ball from Randiv and stumped by Sangakkara.
The opener was the first of a five wickets for off-spinner Randiv, who finished with a career-best five for 42, surpassing his previous best return of three for 23 against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo last year.
Trott, though, completed his patient fifty before an unlucky dismissal saw a pull off Randiv get caught up in his body and trickle onto the stumps before he could kick the ball away.
Trott was modest of his own performance.
"It was a lot easier coming in after Cook and Kieswetter had done such a good job," he said. "We wanted to have a quick look then go as quickly as possible. There is a lot of belief in our changing room and we're very pleased to have beat Sri Lanka in conditions today that are similar to Colombo."
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.”
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh1,100,000 (est)
Engine 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox seven-speed dual clutch
Power 630bhp @ 8,000rpm
Torque 600Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 15.7L / 100km (est)
The%20specs
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