Scotland captain Preston Mommsen slams plan for smaller Cricket World Cup

Dunedin, New Zealand // Scotland captain Preston Mommsen has criticised plans to reduce the number of teams at future World Cups, saying it would be a backward move for the global game.

The Scots are one of 14 teams taking part in the ongoing World Cup being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

But with the sides split into two groups of seven and four qualifying from each pool for the quarter-finals, critics argue that it takes too long to reach what is often a predictable list of teams for the last eight.

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The International Cricket Council have indicated that only 10 nations will contest the 2019 World Cup in England, with the top eight teams in the global rankings joined by the two best sides from a qualifying event a year earlier.

That would still give second-tier associate, non-Test, sides such as Scotland the chance to compete on the World Cup stage but Mommsen argued reducing the number of teams would hinder efforts to “grow the game”.

“Hopefully people will realise that’s not the best decision for world cricket,” he said.

“A World Cup is called a World Cup for a reason, because it’s a global event,” the skipper added. “By excluding nations that are trying to compete and trying to grow the game, it’s not very effective.”

However, Mommsen said he did not want the issue of qualification for future events to disrupt Scotland’s campaign at the 2015 World Cup, arguing that impressing on the field -- starting with Tuesday’s match against co-hosts New Zealand -- was the best way to win over their critics.

But he did observe that cricket appeared to be one of the few sports where the showpiece event was being reduced in size rather than witnessing an expansion in the number of teams taking part.

And with cricket already possessing an elite eight-team 50-over tournament in the Champions Trophy, held in alternate two years to the World Cup, Mommsen said a lack of differentiation between the two tournaments would not be in the best interests of cricket.

“You may as well call it the Champions Trophy No.2,” he said of proposals for a slimmed-down World Cup.

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.”

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