Gayle, left, and Benn are considered good friends.
Gayle, left, and Benn are considered good friends.

Sport

Benn's fine underlines 'low ebb'

Cricket in the Caribbean has suffered many lows but few have been as farcical as the captain being forced to send a bowler out of the field because of insubordination.

Paul Radley
Paul Radley
Dubai

June 03, 2010

Cricket in the Caribbean has suffered many lows during its regression over the past decade. However, few have been quite a farcical as the sight of the regional team's captain being forced to send one of his leading bowlers from the field because of insubordination. On Sunday, as West Indies lurched to a sixth successive defeat against South Africa, Chris Gayle jettisoned Sulieman Benn, the left-arm spinner, who is said to be a good friend of his captain, for refusing to follow orders.

Gayle wanted Benn to change his line of attack to over the wicket, but the towering slow-bowler protested, claiming he had never done so before. Having bowled just four overs, he was sent from the field, and the home side proceeded to stumble to a seven-wicket defeat. Benn has retained his place in the squad as his side bid to avoid a series whitewash today, even though he was fined his entire match fee for his indiscretion.

As if the on-field performances have not been painful enough, the game in the Caribbean has also been riven by in-fighting between administrators. Ernest Hilaire, the West Indies Cricket Board chief executive, has been outspoken in his criticism of the state of the game. "Our cricketers are the products of the failing Caribbean society, where money and instant gratification are paramount," Hilaire was quoted as saying in the Caribbean media earlier this week. His comments brought an angry rebuke from the West Indies players' union, who claimed such words would become fodder for opposing players.

Clive Lloyd, the decorated former West Indies captain, hopes the inauguration of a long-awaited High Performance Centre in Barbados will help to revive cricket in the region. The centre will be officially opened on Monday, with 15 young players set to become the first inductees. "I think our cricket is at a very low ebb at the moment," said Lloyd, who was at the helm when the West Indies were regarded as being the strongest side in world cricket.

"We are trying our best. I am a director of the board. It has taken us a long while to get an academy going, which was something I asked for even when I was playing. "With an academy, you will have players who are well rounded. Sport is about intelligence. "If you don't understand the finer points of things like power plays, when to take them, it will be difficult. "You have to be on the ball all the time, and if you are not, you can run in to problems all the time.

"Intelligence plays a great part. You tend to find the captains who understand those things and can work them out, tend to end at the top." @Email:pradley@thenational.ae West Indies v South Africa, 5th ODI, 5.30pm, Ten Sports

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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.”