Champions Trophy: Graeme Swann swoops back to England fold

England will have Graeme Swann back in their ranks as they look to move closer to the knockout stages of the ICC Champions Trophy by beating Sri Lanka at The Oval.

The hosts could move in to the final four of the competition if they beat Sri Lanka on Thursday.

England beat Australia by 48 runs in their curtain-raiser at Edgbaston last Saturday without Swann, who was suffering from a back problem.

The Nottinghamshire spinner, who took eight wickets against Sri Lanka when they toured England in 2011, trained with his teammates yesterday and is expected to replace James Tredwell.

"Swanny is fit," England captain Alastair Cook said. "His injury was a strange one. He must have jarred his back in training and woke up with a stiff back the next day.

"That can happen but, at the moment, he is back and available for selection."

England cruised to victory against Australia last week thanks to 91 from Ian Bell and three wickets from James Anderson.

The performance was a marked improvement on the team's efforts earlier this summer when they fell to a shock 2-1 one-day series defeat against New Zealand.

Cook now believes his team are back on track.

"The win against Australia was a good one, as was the last one against New Zealand," he said. "The first two games against New Zealand seem to be out of the way. We seem to have recovered a bit of form and confidence now.

"It's a vitally important game, we can make a really big stride towards the semi-finals if we win."

Lasith Malinga's ability to bowl flat, often slow, yorkers has bamboozled batsmen across the world and he has a good record in England.

The 29 year old took four wickets during Sri Lanka's narrow defeat to New Zealand in their Group A opener last week, but Cook is sure England can handle him.

"Malinga has improved that slower ball and he has looked dangerous," he said. "It's something we have to be aware of and we have looked at footage of it. If you get used to facing him you can get in to a rhythm.

"If we can play him well as a unit it can really put Sri Lanka under some pressure."

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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.”

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO

Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday

Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD

Champions Trophy: Graeme Swann swoops back to England fold

Off-spinner fit for home team ahead of Group A clash with Sri Lanka after battling back problem.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO