SHARJAH // Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s one-day international captain, says his side face a crucial series against West Indies in their bid to qualify for the 2019 World Cup in England.
After Pakistan thrashed the Caribbean side 3-0 in the 20-over format, they now meet in a 50-over series with much riding on it.
Friday’s game in Sharjah arrives exactly a year until the cut off for qualifying for the next World Cup, which will involve just 10 teams, is set to happen.
It is the first time in history the Test nations will have to worry about attempting to qualify, without their place in the competition being granted automatically. England, as hosts of the event in just under three years’ time, are guaranteed a place.
The next seven qualifiers will be decided by the top placed sides in the ICC’s one-day international rankings as of September 30, 2017.
The final two places will be settled by a qualification tournament, which could also involved the UAE national team, in Bangladesh in March and April 2018.
West Indies currently sit eighth in the table, so just within the qualifying places, given that England are fifth.
Pakistan are ninth, and Azhar is aware of the need to make up lost ranking points against the Caribbean side in this three-match series.
“It is very important considering qualification for the 2019 World Cup,” Azhar said. “Teams are contesting it, but we are very confident we have the ability to do well in this series, and we can perform to the potential.
• Read more: Pakistan retain under-pressure Azhar Ali as ODI captain for West Indies series in UAE
“In limited-overs cricket, West Indies are a dangerous side and have players who can win games on their day. We are aware of that, but we need to focus on our own game and take that aggressive mode from the Twenty20 into the ODIs as well.”
Pakistan have won five matches in succession in limited-overs formats, having taken the last match of their ODI series in England, and the lone T20 which followed.
Azhar said his side are full of confidence after the 20-over series cleansweep of West Indies with which they started their UAE tour. “We have to take that confidence of the three good T20 wins,” Azhar said.
“We also had a good win at Cardiff, we chased 300 plus outside Asia for the first time,” a reference to the final match at the end of the 4-1 series loss to England.
“We bowled well in that last game so we had set good standards in the last few limited-overs games, so we have to keep improving.”
Jason Holder, the West Indies captain, said his team are aware that each fixture matters in relation to 2019 qualifying.
“Obviously the way ICC has structured the World Cup, we have to take each game as very serious game,” Holder said.
“Every game is points related and points are very important for the team. We can control only us by playing good cricket, so we want to start this series well.”
Holder has taken on the captaincy armband after Carlos Brathwaite led in the T20 series. The side is still without a head coach, after the West Indies Cricket Board parted company with Phil Simmons on the eve of the tour.
“We are professionals,” Holder said. “We have got to be professional. At the end of the day, we have nothing to worry about it but playing cricket.”
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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.”
