In the end, Makhaya Ntini's last act as an international cricketer came with the bat and not the ball.
When he walked out to a standing ovation from the biggest crowd ever assembled for a cricket match on the African continent, South Africa needed 25 from four balls.
He faced two of them, an airy waft and an inside-edged single as India won the Krish Mackerdhuj Trophy by 21 runs. Not that anyone cared. This Twenty20 international was all about saying goodbye to an icon, to a player whose 662 international wickets are like the Pole Star for young black children finding their way into the game.
Ntini knows as well as anyone that he reached the end of the road a little over a year ago, after a wicketless outing in his 101st Test, an innings defeat to England at Kingsmead, the famous cricket ground just up the road from the Moses Mabhida football stadium where this game was played.
It meant that he would fall 10 short of 400 Test wickets, but there was little trace of regret when he spoke on the eve of the game.
"I don't want to be remembered as a person who did A, B, C, D," he said. "All I want to be remembered as is Makhaya Ntini, who played for South Africa. A guy who always cheered the boys up."
That he took so many wickets was a story in itself. He lacked the fearsome pace of Allan Donald, the guile and variations of Shaun Pollock and the wondrous outswing of his last new-ball partner, Dale Steyn. Malcolm Marshall was his hero, but there was little of Macko in Ntini, apart from his determination to prove people wrong.
For a long time, he was deeply uncomfortable in his role as trailblazer. "[Herschelle] Gibbs and [Paul] Adams are also coloured cricketers," he told me. "They played for South Africa before I did."
Perhaps it was the nature of his story that made him so special.
Ntini was 14 and used to herding cattle and goats when he stopped to watch some boys play at a ground near his home in Mdingi in the Eastern Cape. Raymond Booi, one of the coaches entrusted with spotting young talent in the area, called him over, gave him a ball and asked him to have a bowl.
Six years later, he was running in for South Africa in a Test match. But even before he could prove that he wasn't just a "quota" selection, he was embroiled in a rape case that dragged his name through the newspapers and cost him a chance of playing in the 1999 World Cup.
Years later, when I asked him whether he viewed the matches he played afterwards as his chance at redemption, his response was an angry one.
"I was given back what I had earned," he said. "You're given a second chance if you have done something. That was not the case. It was like they had stolen my car and then given the keys back. I made full use of it."
He certainly did, running in tirelessly day after day, getting batsmen out through sheer persistence as much as skill.
In 2003, he made it to the Honours Board at Lord's, alongside his hero, Marshall, and two years later, he had the best match figures for a South Africa, 13 for 132 in Barbados, a game that he started after a rocket from Ray Jennings, the coach, for being late for practice.
Towards the end, especially the forgettable last two Tests against England, the Mdingi Express had become a passenger. The outing here, against a young Indian side showed why. The pace had gone and despite the enthusiasm and the cheers, he went for 46 from his four overs. Once the hurrahs have died down, he will devote a lot of his time to the academy named after him in Mdantsane outside East London.
Given his infectious enthusiasm, it might not be long before we see another like him taking the new ball for the Proteas.
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Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
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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.”
