Pakistan and England will be aiming to build one-day sides for the future as they enter a four-match series in Abu Dhabi starting on Wednesday.
Pakistan, who won the preceding three-match Test series 2-0, will be in a tight corner as they seek huge improvement in their one-day ranking, to lift themselves for the 2019 World Cup to be held in England.
Besides hosts England, seven other top-ranked sides as of 30 September 2017 will qualify directly for the World Cup, and the only way Pakistan can move up the order is by winning matches against the higher-ranked sides.
Pakistan, currently ranked eighth as compared to England’s sixth, will be hoping they do not repeat their below-par performances they gave in 2012 when they were blanked 4-0 in the UAE.
Skipper Azhar Ali said the series is important for the future as well as rankings.
“We have won Tests so we want to take that morale into the one-day series which is very important,” Ali said. “We need improvement in rankings as well as want to build the team for the future.”
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Pakistan crashed out at the quarter-finals in the 2015 World Cup in March.
But the worst came in Bangladesh where Pakistan were routed 3-0 in April — their first series defeat against the neighbours.
Since then Pakistan beat Zimbabwe twice (home and away) and Sri Lanka in August.
Regarding Younis Khan’s debatable selection, despite his poor form in the one-dayers, Ali said he hopes the senior batsman will come good.
“Younis is a legend so we hope that he contributes and helps us win,” said Ali, made captain after Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi retired following the World Cup.
Spinner Saeed Ajmal is also not in the squad after struggling with a new bowling action, which needed remodelling after it was questioned last year.
His place went to leg-spinner Yasir Shah who will hope to carry his Test form, taking 15 wickets in two matches, into the one-day series.
To their credit, England have shown remarkable progress after being the only top side not to reach the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.
England beat the 2015 World Cup finalists New Zealand 3-2 before going down fighting by the same result against Australia — both at home.
England captain Eoin Morgan said his team was progressing well.
“We had two very competitive series (this year) in which we have seen a lot of youngsters produce some unbelievable performances and although this series will be different the platform will hold us in good stead,” Morgan said.
However, Morgan said Pakistan pose tough challenges.
“They are always challenging and a very capable side, they offer a huge amount of skills and different challenge, various amount of spin and obviously these conditions enhance that challenge.”
Both Pakistan and England tuned up for the one-day series with comfortable warm-up wins against Nepal and Hong Kong respectively.
The remaining matches will be held in Abu Dhabi (November 13), Sharjah (November 17) and Dubai (November 20).
Teams (from):
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Chris Jordan, Alex Hales, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, James Taylor, Reece Topley, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett.
Pakistan: Azhar Ali (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Bilal Asif, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Amir Yamin, Anwer Ali, Yasir Shah, Zafar Gohar, Rahat Ali, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan
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The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
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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.”
