After plunging to a predictable nine-wicket loss in the second Test match against England in Birmingham earlier this week, there is one question on the lips of the despairing Pakistan fans: when will Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), resign?
However, some will wonder if he is really the problem or are the troubles much more deeply rooted.
Butt, the 72-year-old chairman, has become the subject of many hard-hitting jokes around Pakistan. Farcical policies and infamous U-turns have characterised his reign and he holds absolutely zero credibility. He stand accused of destabilising Pakistan cricket.
When Butt was hired, he was claimed to be a wise man with the indispensable knowledge to steer the board in the right direction. In fact, the man himself stated he would do so.
During his first press conference, Butt said: "Discipline is paramount and I will push everyone hard to overcome this problem and will not allow anyone to tarnish Pakistan's cricket image."
Butt has most certainly not lived up to his own lofty expectations and has, in fact, added to the woes of the nation's favourite pastime.
The problems started creeping in slowly but surely, beginning with nepotistic hirings and poorly thought-out bans. The reactive era of administrative decisions had begun.
The banning and then the recall of Mohammad Yousuf has summed up Butt's knee-jerk and irresponsible time as chairman. Decisions made in his tenure illustrate a man's desire to prolong his career rather than restore the nation's pride.
However, there are always two sides to every argument.
PCB chairmen have one of the toughest jobs in cricket. They are subject to intense scrutiny from the public and the media. Yet, it is the political twist to governing the PCB that provides the mightiest of hurdles.
The PCB is run by the government and the chairman is chosen by the president of the country. Government officials observe his each and every move attentively. Opposition parties condemn his every decision.
In Butt's case, the criticism has become so vicious that he was accused of promoting match-fixing. Working through this complex juggling act is a headache on its own, but not everything has been doom and gloom in his era.
Under Butt's watch, the cricketing world has seen the rise of two youngsters in Mohammad Aamer and Umar Akmal. Perhaps, he can even claim the emergence of Zulqarnain Haider as well. He was also the man at the helm when the nation won the Twenty20 World Cup in England last year.
Butt has been a big advocate of promoting youth. Yet, herein lies the problem. Every positive decision he has made has been followed with an equally negative one. It has been a case of one step forward and two back. There as been no tangible progress.
Pakistan has always had one solution for all trials and tribulations: Imran Khan. The greatest Pakistan captain and player is considered the solution for the problems which are besetting the country's cricket.
The Oxford University-educated Imran has constantly been implored by fans, former players and cricketing analysts to take the role of chairman. However, the politician has always rejected those pleas, citing bigger goals (social work, political reform, etc) as his justification.
Imran has always offered guidance to the PCB and has consistently criticised the current system, but everything falls on deaf ears.
You cannot blame Imran for not accepting the poisoned chalice as there are constant murmurs of nepotism, corruption and incompetence.
There has been a constitution penned for the PCB to follow, yet it has become just another tool for officials to justify their erroneous decisions.
The constitution was written with the intention of providing less control to the chairman. However, every few months the constitution is amended to suit the needs of the chairman. Loopholes have been found and exploited.
The solution is therefore not as straightforward as removing Butt. At best, replacing Butt will herald the arrival of a new chairman who is simply a little better than his predecessor. This line of thinking is gloomy because sticking-plaster solutions have never worked and never will.
Pakistan cricket has always been blessed with exceptional cricketing talent but this talent has always been overshadowed by rumblings of discontent on the board. The short-term solution would be to remove Butt.
But the long-term solution will have to be more comprehensive and will require grit, determination and willingness that has been lacking at the top of the Pakistan batting order. The system has to be disbanded and they must start from scratch.
It will take a visionary to grasp the situation and rebuild the PCB. The PCB will have to become a separate organisation, a board with only one goal in mind and that would be to advance the nation's cricket. Political interference needs to be removed and the PCB chairmen needs to be appointed through an open and transparent process.
This system would let the chairman do his job without interference from government officials. Butt would not flourish in any system. He has shown high levels of incompetence in trouble-free situations and that is not acceptable from any administrator.
There have been PCB chairmen in the past that were victims of the system and its pressure.
Butt is not a victim of the system; he is there because of the system. It is time for that system to be overhauled.
Usama Ahmed is a cricket writer at PakPassion.net
@Email:sports@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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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.”
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Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
