Cricket Australia to review their continued flops on foreign pitches

MELBOURNE // Australia’s cricket board has promised a review of the Ashes debacle after the dead rubber Test at The Oval and will seek answers to the team’s continued flops on foreign pitches.

Eighteen months after blitzing England 5-0, Australia’s rout in Nottingham to surrender the Ashes 3-1 has again exposed the team as home-track bullies.

Australia have won four out of five of their past Test series on home soil, but have been thrashed in away series against India, Pakistan and England in the past two years.

– England trounce Australia by an innings at Trent Bridge to reclaim The Ashes

“After every series we will sit down and review, and I think there is an opportunity for a reflection on style of play,” Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said.

“It’s not easy playing away but it’s something we have to get better at. We want to be the best cricket team in the world and to do that we have to be better at playing away.”

Losing the coveted urn to arch rivals England is depressing enough in cricket-mad Australia, but the manner of the team’s capitulation after entering the series as favourites has prompted criticism from all quarters.

Most of the blame has been heaped upon the batsmen, who struggled to adapt to English conditions and appeared inept when facing the moving ball.

Selectors, including coach Darren Lehmann, have also been roasted for several surprising decisions, including the omission of long-serving wicketkeeper Brad Haddin for most of the series and for failing to pick an all-rounder in the decisive loss at Trent Bridge.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he believed up to seven players apart from Clarke may never play another Test after the tour wraps up at The Oval, which starts on August 20, with the ageing team in dire need of regeneration.

Steven Smith is all but certain to take the reins from Clarke for the team’s two-Test tour of Bangladesh in October but critics have suggested a new coach should also be brought in to help the young captain rebuild the team.

Sutherland, however, said Lehmann, 45, who has lost two out of three Ashes series in charge, was safe in his role.

He also said Smith, who led Australia to victory against India in the home summer, was more than ready to fill Clarke’s shoes despite the 26-year-old batsman’s disappointing Ashes.

“We have someone in waiting who has had experience as a captain,” he said.

“In recent months he has been rated as the best Test cricketer in the world. Steven is ready for this challenge but no one is ready-made to just walk into it.”

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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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Volunteers offer workers a lifeline

Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.

When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.

Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.

Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.

“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.

Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.

“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.