When David Warner was sat in the stands in Dubai five weeks ago waving a flag, some critics might have suggested it should have been a white one.
His form for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League had been so dire, he had lost the captaincy of the side to Kane Williamson. He had lost his place in the XI, and been jettisoned from the match day squad, too.
Because of rules over how many players from each side were allowed on site at each game, that meant watching some matches on TV from the team hotel.
By the end of the campaign, he had at least made it back as far as the team’s box at the Dubai International Stadium, from where he could maintain appearances by waving an orange Sunrisers flag.
Through it all was a feeling of foreboding. Warner has form for going off the rails in times of stress in the past. And still his IPL future remains unclear.
A little before that time, Australia’s T20 captain, Aaron Finch, made a call to the team’s coach, Justin Langer. During it, he says, he made a prediction.
“Without a word of a lie, I promise you, I called Justin Langer a few months ago and said, ‘Don’t worry about Davey, he’ll be man of the tournament’,” Finch said.
“I thought Adam Zampa should have been man of the tournament personally. But [Warner] is a great player. He is one of the all-time great batters.
“He is a fighter. He is someone who, when his back is against the wall, that is when you get the very, very best of David Warner.
“It was a special, special tournament for him, especially the last couple of knocks.”
Finch’s suggestion that Warner excels in tough circumstances was evidenced in his end to the competition.
He made 89 not out in the must-win last pool match against West Indies, then a vital 49 against Pakistan in the semi-final.
In the final, he made 53 from 38 balls as Australia chased 173 to beat New Zealand with eight wickets to spare.
His effort in the final was trumped by Mitch Marsh, with whom he shared a telling alliance worth 92 for the second wicket.
Marsh was named player of the match for his 77 not out, which included the winning runs.
“[Marsh] is someone who loves a contest, loves a challenge, and we just backed him from the start,” Finch said.
“We committed to him batting No 3 for a long time, and he knew that. That is all you need sometimes, just a little bit of backing and some confidence from everybody else.
“I think it was the first ball he faced in the first practice game against New Zealand, which he also hit for six [as he did in the final].
“It showed the confidence he has, and the confidence we have in each other. It was brilliant.”
Team of the tournament
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
RESULT
Kolkata Knight Riders 169-7 (20 ovs)
Rajasthan Royals 144-4 (20 ovs)
Kolkata win by 25 runs
Next match
Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders, Friday, 5.30pm
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
by David Gilmour
Allen Lane
