Mani calls for revamping of Pakistan cricket

Ehsan Mani, the former International Cricket Council (ICC) president has called for the structure of Pakistan cricket to be revamped and joined those criticising the recent conduct of Ijaz Butt. Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, claimed on Sunday that there was talk in the bookmaking fraternity that some England players had "taken enormous amounts of money" to fix the third one-day international at The Oval on Friday - although he has since admitted he has no proof.

Pakistan-born Mani believes Butt's comments have done great harm to the game and believes now is the time for a restructuring of Pakistan cricket. He told BBC Radio Five Live yesterday: "It has been a terrible drama for cricket. "What Mr Butt said was totally uncalled for, unsubstantiated and he has done a lot of harm for relationships between England and Pakistan, and Pakistan and the ICC. It is a strange appointment, he [Butt] is there at the pleasure of the patron of the PCB, who is the president of the country, and is only answerable to him.

"I have been saying for a while that the whole government structure of Pakistan cricket needs some serious revamping." As for the allegations themselves, Mani added: "Mr Butt needs to come up with evidence of proof to back up what he said. "Pakistan cricket has very few friends and he is very good at losing them, as he has with England." And while critics have claimed the ICC should have acted quicker, Mani is confident they have done everything possible after charging Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammed Asif under their anti-corruption code following allegations that no-balls were deliberately bowled in a spot-fixing scam in the fourth Test at Lord's.

Mani, appointed as the PCB's representative to the ICC in 1989, said: "The game must go on, the ICC did what the PCB should have done ... as soon as the three players came out ... and suspend the players straight away. It doesn't matter whether they are guilty or not, that will come out in due course. "For the good of the game the PCB should have taken the lead, they failed to do that and the ICC did the only thing they could do and that was suspend the players."

Shaharyar Khan, the former PCB chief, said that Butt took a "wrong step" and he should not be making such damaging allegations. "The new comments of Butt is damaging for Pakistan cricket but I hope it will not damage our relationship with ICC," Khan said. He said the other full members of the ICC like India and Australia do not take Butt's statements seriously. Meanwhile, the former girlfriend of Pakistan's suspended fast bowler Asif was reported in British media yesterday as saying she received death threats soon after meeting ICC officials to discuss match fixing.

Veena Malik, an actress, told TheSun newspaper that she received an e-mail saying "don't talk to the media, keep your mouth shut ... I'll kill you, watch what I do". Officials of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit met Ms Malik earlier this month after she went public with allegations about Asif's activities. The actress's allegations came amid a broadening corruption scandal enveloping Pakistan's ongoing tour of England.

She claimed Asif was in contact with someone in India to fix betting markets. "They were offering Asif £25,000 (Dh142,607) to play badly but he said he needed £128,000," she said. "It was a couple of weeks before Pakistan's tour of Australia." * Agencies

THE BIO

Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old

Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai

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On Women's Day

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Shelina Janmohamed: Why shouldn't a spouse be compensated fairly for housework?

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The National Editorial: Is there much to celebrate on International Women's Day 2021?

Score

Third Test, Day 1

New Zealand 229-7 (90 ov)
Pakistan

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat

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.”

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.

Key facilities

Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
Premier League-standard football pitch
400m Olympic running track
NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
600-seat auditorium
Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
Specialist robotics and science laboratories
AR and VR-enabled learning centres
Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills