South Africa captain AB de Villiers was laid low by illness which gave him a sleepless night before he found the perfect cure by hitting a breathtaking 162 not out in Friday's 257-run World Cup rout of the West Indies.
De Villiers made his runs off just 66 balls as South Africa raced to the second-highest World Cup total of 408 for 5, behind only the 413 for 5 made by India against makeweights Bermuda in Trinidad in 2007.
It was the fastest 150 in one-day internationals and De Villiers now has the fastest fifty, hundred and 150 in ODI cricket – all coming against West Indies.
De Villiers’s century came off 52 balls, just shy of the World Cup fastest ton hit by Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien off 50 deliveries against England in Bangalore in 2011.
“I had some stomach problems last night, I didn’t eat much and had a very rough night. But the doctor gave me an injection and I was on my way,” said De Villiers as his team recovered in emphatic style from their 130-run loss to India in Melbourne last time out.
Friday’s result was the record-equalling heaviest defeat at the World Cup alongside India’s 257-run win over Bermuda.
De Villiers demolished the West Indians with eight sixes and 17 fours and was particularly savage on his counterpart Jason Holder, clouting four sixes off the pace bowler’s final over.
South Africa moved into second place in Pool B behind India on run-rate while West Indies are fourth, also on four points but behind Ireland after their net run-rate took a battering at the SCG.
“As a team it was a very important win for us tonight,” added De Villiers. “It was important for us to step up after the loss to India in Melbourne and show what we’re all about as a cricket team.
“After Melbourne we had a few meetings, a few good training sessions and got the boys inspired for today.”
He added: “I think the credit must go to the guys up front for setting a base. Rilee (Rossouw) inspired me and that affected how I played.”
For the West Indies, the defeat was a crushing blow, coming just three days after Chris Gayle became the first man to make a World Cup double century in the win against Zimbabwe.
Holder conceded 104 runs off his 10 overs – the fifth-most expensive return in all ODI cricket – before redeeming himself to a degree by top-scoring with 56.
“I thought we did well early in the game with the ball and keeping the run-rate down but then it got away from us,” said Holder.
“If you take away his innings it is a totally different score but we dropped chances and psychologically chasing 400 is a huge task.
“We have some areas we need to improve on. Going forward we need to take the positives and try to go in with full confidence. We are confident we can make the quarter-finals and we need to play good cricket against India,” in Perth on March 6.
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The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
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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1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
