When rain washed away their hopes of causing an upset at the 2020 Under 19 World Cup, the UAE’s leading young cricketers might have feared their chance of a statement win on the global stage had gone.
The national age-group side were promisingly positioned in a run-chase against hosts South Africa when a storm ended their chances two years ago.
While the majority of the squad have since moved on to senior cricket, three players still remain to take up the fight on their World Cup return.
Alishan Sharafu, Kai Smith and Ali Naseer are the three senior players in an otherwise new-look squad who are bidding to erase the hurt of 2020 at the competition in the Caribbean this month.
UAE start their campaign against Canada on Saturday in St Kitts. The Canadians were the opposition when UAE claimed their lone win last time at the competition. That is followed by pool fixtures against England and Bangladesh, who are the defending champions.
Smith, the 17-year-old opener, says his side are not putting a limit on their expectations for the competition.
“I think that last time we had a great chance of winning that game but were pretty unlucky with something that is out of our control,” Smith said.
“It hurts and still does to this day because we all truly believe that we have a shot at beating the favourites of the tournament, and therefore qualifying to the playoffs for the first in history.
“However, we all have to put that behind us and focus on seizing the moment this tournament, game by game, ball by ball.
“I feel that we have a very passionate and determined team, ready to make a statement and rewrite the history books by winning this thing because we have so much potential as a group and can do some real damage if we all play our roles and as a team.”
Smith says the disappointment of two years ago made those involved stronger.
“I feel like that tournament has made us grow and develop as cricketers and people, encouraging us to work harder than ever to compete with the best and always stay on top of our game,” he said.
“It has also taught us some key principles that you will need in life like resilience, perseverance, leadership, accountability, belief and patience.
“With the hardships faced last World Cup I feel that me and Alishan, as the two seniors of the team have an opportunity to pass these lessons on to some of the youngsters to prevent those mistakes made, and also build on our strengths overall making us a more competitive, stronger team.”
Smith’s talent for cricket last year led to him relocating from Dubai, where he was born and raised, to the UK.
Since moving to attend boarding school he has also been involved in county cricket, which included keeping wicket against England fast-bowler Chris Woakes in Warwickshire’s second XI.
The England fixture at the World Cup will pit him against a number of players he played with and against last summer, and he said it will be “an amazing opportunity to compete against them, and I will be pushing myself to the limit”.
Smith’s tour started in the best possible fashion. He struck 145 in a mammoth win over Papua New Guinea in the UAE’s opening warm up match, and he said optimism is coursing through the side after that success.
“We said it before and will say it again, we only have one goal: to make sure our hands are on that cup,” Smith said.
“We don’t see ourselves as an Associate nation. We have true potential as a team and won't stand down to any bullies. We will fight till the last ball is bowled.
“Personally that's what I want to try and get out of our team but also to learn as much as I can from this once in a lifetime opportunity.
"I want to make mistakes and learn from them in order to grow as a player and as a person.”
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PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
RESULT
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Bayern Munich 4
Leverkusen: Alario (9'), Wirtz (89')
Bayern: Coman (27'), Goretzka (42'), Gnabry (45'), Lewandowski (66')
School counsellors on mental well-being
Schools counsellors in Abu Dhabi have put a number of provisions in place to help support pupils returning to the classroom next week.
Many children will resume in-person lessons for the first time in 10 months and parents previously raised concerns about the long-term effects of distance learning.
Schools leaders and counsellors said extra support will be offered to anyone that needs it. Additionally, heads of years will be on hand to offer advice or coping mechanisms to ease any concerns.
“Anxiety this time round has really spiralled, more so than from the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Priya Mitchell, counsellor at The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi.
“Some have got used to being at home don’t want to go back, while others are desperate to get back.
“We have seen an increase in depressive symptoms, especially with older pupils, and self-harm is starting younger.
“It is worrying and has taught us how important it is that we prioritise mental well-being.”
Ms Mitchell said she was liaising more with heads of year so they can support and offer advice to pupils if the demand is there.
The school will also carry out mental well-being checks so they can pick up on any behavioural patterns and put interventions in place to help pupils.
At Raha International School, the well-being team has provided parents with assessment surveys to see how they can support students at home to transition back to school.
“They have created a Well-being Resource Bank that parents have access to on information on various domains of mental health for students and families,” a team member said.
“Our pastoral team have been working with students to help ease the transition and reduce anxiety that [pupils] may experience after some have been nearly a year off campus.
"Special secondary tutorial classes have also focused on preparing students for their return; going over new guidelines, expectations and daily schedules.”
Brief scoreline:
Al Wahda 2
Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'
Al Nassr 3
Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'
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UFC Fight Night 2
1am – Early prelims
2am – Prelims
4am-7am – Main card
7:30am-9am – press cons
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.”
Notable cricketers and political careers
- India: Kirti Azad, Navjot Sidhu and Gautam Gambhir (rumoured)
- Pakistan: Imran Khan and Shahid Afridi (rumoured)
- Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan (rumoured)
- Bangladesh (Mashrafe Mortaza)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
