LAHORE, Pakistan // Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore will leave his job at the end of February, the country’s cricket board said Tuesday, saying a mutual agreement had been reached not to extend his contract.
The 59 year old former Australian batsman, who took over in March 2012, has faced mounting criticism over Pakistan’s dismal run of results in recent months, with ex-players regularly calling for him to go.
Pakistan went down by 117 runs to South Africa in Sharjah on Monday, completing a 4-1 defeat in their one-day series.
The Proteas have given Pakistan a torrid time in 2013, beating them 3-0 in Tests and 3-2 in one-day internationals in South Africa in February-March.
Under Whatmore, who led Sri Lanka to their World Cup victory in 1996, Pakistan have not won a single Test series and the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) interim chairman admitted on Friday he was under pressure to sack him.
But the board said Whatmore had decided not to seek an extension to his contract, which expires at the end of February.
“Whatmore had informed the PCB that he would not be seeking a renewal of his contract due to his personal and family reasons,” said a PCB release.
“Under the circumstances, the PCB and Whatmore have mutually agreed to conclude the contract on February 28, 2014.”
Whatmore’s last assignment will be a series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates in December-January.
Former paceman and coach Waqar Younis and former captain Moin Khan are in the running to replace him.
The Pakistani squad, meanwhile, will look to win the two-match Twenty20 series against South Africa starting on Wednesday to go to the top of the rankings in the shortest format of the game.
Besides improvement in the rankings, both the teams will also seek to get tuned up for the fifth edition of the World Twenty20 to be held in Bangladesh in March and April next year.
Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez said his team, ranked second behind Sri Lanka, are eager to win both games.
“Of course it will be a big thing if we attain the number one ranking but for us it is more important to win Wednesday’s game and then think for the second,” said Hafeez at the launch of the Twenty20 Cup.
Both matches will be played in Dubai, with the second clash taking place on Friday.
“This series is also important for the fact that we have the World Twenty20 in four months so we have discussed it and want to have the same group of players so that we have a settled squad for the mega event,” said Hafeez.
Pakistan will also look to put behind them the 4-1 thrashing in the five-match one-day series which finished on Monday, and Hafeez said it will be important to forget that loss.
“We are disappointed at the one-day series loss but we have to put that behind us, it’s a new format and some new players have boosted our strength so we will definitely get better results,” said the 33 year old.
Pakistan are bolstered by the return of all-rounders Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik, while South Africa welcome Twenty20 specialists in Henry Davids, Aaron Phangiso and David Wiese as well as pace spearhead Dale Steyn, who has not played a T20 since December last year.
South African captain Faf du Plessis said his team will start the series with confidence.
“I think it’s nice to go into the series with a momentum and the confidence is there although it’s a different format and slightly different team but we look forward to it,” said Du Plessis, who also sought to underline the importance of gearing up for the World Twenty20.
“We must find the right balance with the World Twenty20 in the sub-continent, which will have similar conditions to here,” said Du Plessis.
Teams:
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shahid Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood, Abdul Razzaq, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Abdur Rehman.
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, David Wiese.
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.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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.”
